
U. S. COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 

JOHN J. BRICE, Commissioner. 



THE 



IFICIAL PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC 
COAST OF THE UNITED STATES, 



WITH 



NOTES ON THE NATURAE HISTORY OF THE OUINNAT SALMON. 



BY 



LIVINGSSXOX BXONE, ^. NI. 



Extracted from V. S. Fish Commission Balletin for 1896. Article 3, Pages 203 to 235, Plates 73 to 87, 



WASHINGTON : 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

isnfi. 



N, 



U. S. COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 

JOHN J. BRICE, Commissioner. 



THE 



ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC 
COAST OF THE UNITED STATES, 



WITH 



xXOTES OX THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE QUINNAT SALMON. 



BY 



LIVINGSTON STONE, A. IVI. 



Extracted frnm U. S, Fish CommissioE Balletin for 1896, Article 3, Pages 203 to 235, Plates 73 to 87. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
189 6. 



?fs 



THE ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF SALMON OX THE PACIFIC 
COAST OF THE IXITEI) STATES. 

WITH 

NOTES ON THE NATURAE HISTORY OE THE^ OUINNAT SALMON. 

By LIVINOSTON STONE, A. NI. 



203 



Bull. U. S. F. C. 1896. (To face pags 205.) 



Plate 73. 




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3.-THE ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST 
OF THE UNITED STATES, WITH NOTES ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 
OF THE OUINNAT SALMON. 



By LIVINGSTON STONE, A. M. 



A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SALMON-BREEDING WORK OF THE UNITED STATES FISH 
COMMISSION ON THE PACIFIC COAST, WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO OPERATIONS 
AT BAIRD STATION, CALIFORNIA. 

Ill 18G4 the New Hampshire legi.slatuie had the intelligence and foresight to 
appoint a ti.'^h conmiissiou — the pioneer fl.sh eoniiiiis.sion of the United States — at tlie 
suggestion of Hon. Henry A. Bellows, of Concord. Two years after, in 18G6, the 
commission sent Dr. W. W. Fletcher to New Brunswick to i^rocure salmon eggs for 
Merrimac River. This was the first effort ever made in America in the direction of 
salmon breeding. Only two or three hundred fry were actually known to have 
resulted from this exiiedition, but it was a beginning — a small beginning, it is true, but 
one which opened up a field of operations that has since been enlarged beyond the 
most sanguine expectations. 

In 18G7 Dr. Fletcher went again to New Brunswick, under the auspices of the 
New Hampshire Comndssion, and brought back 70,000 salmon eggs, of which about 
10.000 were successfully hatched. 

The next year, 18(18, the writer, in connection with Mr. Josejjh Goodfellow, of 
New Brunswick, put up a large salmon-hatching plant on Mirimichi Eiver, and began 
the first systematic operations on this side of the Atlantic for taking and hatching 
salmon eggs. The neighboring residents,' however, very naturally Jealous of the 
attempts of a foreigner to carrj'- off their "salmon seed," as they expressed it 
(although by explicit stipulations lialf of the eggs were to remain in New Brunswick), 
threw so many obstacles in the way that it was only by persistent effort, in the face 
of most discouraging opposition, that any salmon eggs at all were secured, the whole 
output of the season amounting to only 443,900 eggs, and the next year the local 
pulilic sentiment was so hostile that this hatchery, constructed on a large scale and 
almost ideal in its natural adaptability to its purpose, had to be abandoned altogethei-. 

Very little was done in 1860 and 1870 in getting salmon eggs for the United 
States, except by purchase from the Canadian government, the price paid at that 
time being the preposterous sum of $40 in gold per 1,000, or nearly $45 in the then 
depreciated currency of the United States. 

In 1871' Mr. Charles G. Atkins, of Maine, began operations in salmon breeding 
on the Penobscot, and obtained 72,300 eggs, at a cost of $18.09 per 1,000. 

' See Domesticated Trout, pajje 315. 

■* Mr. Atkius has continued successfully to take salmou (Salmo salar) eggs on the I'euoViscot ni> to 
the present time (18'J6). 

205 



206 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

lu the SHimuer of 1S712, at a meeting of members of the Fisli-Culturists' Associa- 
tion and State flsh commissioners, called, I think, by Prof. 8i)encer F. Baird, the 
United States Fish Commissioner, the subject of obtaining salmon eggs on a large 
scale "was discussed, the writer advocating the plan of operating on the I'acitic (.'oast,' 
where millions of eggs could be taken at the cost of a few hundred thousand obtained 
on the Atlantic Coast. One of the results of this meeting was that the writer was 
commissioned by Professor Baird to go to the Paciflc Coast in search of salmon eggs. 
Professor Baird's instructions were contained in the following letter: 

UxrrED States (Iommission ok Fish and Fisheriks, 

Eastport, Alaine, ■hihj 6', 1S72. 

Dear Sir: An appropriation of $15,000 was made by Conj;ress, at its last session, to be expended 
under the direction of the United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, for introducing salmon, 
shad, and other useful food-fishes into new and suitable waters of the T'nited States. At the recom- 
nieudation of members of the Fish-Cnlturists' Association and certain State fish commissioners, 
I hereby .appoint you a deputy commissioner, to proceed without delay to the Pacific Coast, iu 
connection with this object. Your compensation in full for your services will be $250 a month, your 
pay commencing when you start for the West. 

The sum of $750 will be allowed you for expenses of traveling and of investigation for the fiscal 
year, and a further allowance of $1,250 for the same period will be made for the cost of erecting and 
maintaining a luatehing establishment, and for other necessary expenses connected with the packing 
and transportation of the eggs, etc. — $5,000 in all. 

You will ])roceed to California at the earliest possible moment, and on arriving there ]>ut yourself 
in communication witb the commissioners of the State of California and endeavor to obtain their 
assistance in your mission. If you can make arrangements to obtain, at reasonable cost, all the eggs 
that you desire in California, without proceeding farther north, you are hereby authorized to do so, 
but otherwise you will extend your journey to the Columbia River and adjacent waters, and if the 
season is not too far advanced you will proceed at once to make arrangements for obtaining ii supply 
of salmon eggs; iireviously. however, by examination and counsel with those who are familiar with 
the subject, fixing upon the species best adapted for the j)urposes in question. 

The general treatment of the whole subject must l)e left largely to your discretion, bearing in 

mind that the object is to lay the foundation of an arrangement, on a large scale, for obtaining eggs 

of the best varieties of Sahnonidw and other food-fishes of the western coast. 

Very truly yours, .Si-encer F. Baird, 

Commissioner. 
LivixGsTON Stone, Escj., 

Charleslown, Xew Hampshire. 

Perhaps I can not better give an account of what immediately followed than by 
quoting from my lirst report to Professor Baird, dated December 0, 1872:- 

In pursuance of your instructions, received in .July last, to proceed without delay to the Pacific 
Coast and nuake arrangements for obtaining a supply of salmon eggs, I left Boston on the 1st day of 
August for S.an Francisco, with this object. As I was directed in subsequent letters to obtain, if 
possible, the eggs of the Sac'ramento River salmon, I set myself at work at once to ascertain the time 
and place of the spawning of these fish, but, singular as it seems, I could find no one in San Fran- 
cisco who was able to say either where or when the salmon of the Sacramento spawned. 

Fortunately, a short time after, I was introduced, through the kindness of Hon. B. B. Redding, 
a member of the board of California commissioners of fisheries, to Mr. Mcmtague, the chief engineer 



' It may be well to mention here that the subject of this paper, viz, the qninnat salmon, must not 
be confounded with the other salmon of the Pacific Coast. The Atlantic has but one kind of salnicm 
(Siihiii) sninr], but the Pacific has five species, as follows: The quinnat salmon {<htii>rliiincliiix Isrlid- 
tcytscha), the blncbaik salmon ( U. iierka), the sih er salmon ( 0. kisKlcJi). the dug salmon ( (I. kela), and 
the hum]iback salmon ( (). iiorhiisclin). In addition to these the steelhead ( Sobno gairdiieri) is commonly 
known as a s;iInion, though really a trout. Althougli these salmon in some gcucrul features resemble 
the quinnat, they are very ditVeniit from th.it fish in many matters of detail. 
-United States Fish Commissioner's Report, 1872-73, page 1G8. 



PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 207 

of the Pacific Railroad, wlio showed me the Pacific Railroad surveys of the upper waters of the 
Sacramento, and pointed out a place on the map, near the .junction of McClond and Pitt rivers, where 
be assured me he had seen ludiaus spearing salmon in the fall on their spawniug-heds. This point 
is 185 miles north of Sacramento City. Following this clue I proceeded to Red Hluft', the nortliern- 
most railway station of the California and Oregon Railroad, situated ;iO miles from McCloud River. 
From inquii'ies made there I heeame so well convinced that the salmon were then spawning on 
JlcCloud River, that as soon as supplies and men could he got ready I took the California and Oregon 
stage for Pitt River ferry, a mile from the mouth of tlie McCloud. We arrived hero at daylight on 
the 30th of August. Leaving the stage at this point we followed up the west hank of Pitt River 
on foot to the mouth of the McCloud, and continued thence up McCloud River. 

At a distance of about 2 miles above the mouth of the river we came upon several camps of 
Indians with hundreds of freshly caught salmon drying on the bushes. Salmon could also he seen in 
the river in such numbers that we counted 60 in one spot as we stood at tlie water's edge. It was 
evident that this was the place to get the breeding fish, and the next thing was to find water to 
mature the eggs for shipment. This was not so easy a ta.sk as finding the salmon, but we at last 
discovered a spring stream flowing 1,000 gallons an hour, which I decided to use, this season at least, 
and on the morning of September 1, 1872, the hatching works of the first s.almon-breediug station 
of the T'nited States were located on this stream. 

The location is about 2 miles up McClond River, on its western bank. It is 323 miles from San 
Francisco, via Pacific Railroad; 4.53 miles from Portland, Oreg., and is on the California stage road, 
whicli, at the time of our arrival, connected with the railroad at Red BluH'. The spawn found in the 
salmon that the Indians were speariug on our arrival indicated that there was no time to spare in 
getting ready for the hatching work. We were 'St miles from the nearest town or village, 50 miles 
from a railway station, over 50 miles from an available sawmill, and in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 
where the mule teams barely made 20 miles a day with supplies; but we went to work, and in 15 days 
we had a house built, filtering-tanks, hatching-apparatus, and flume in perfect running order, and on 
the 16th of September we were catching and corralling salmon. There were but three of us, and 
every day for a week the mercury ran from 105° to 112° F. in the shade. But although we worked so 
expeditiousl}' through tlie broiling sun of those days, we were too late. The first few hauls of the 
net showed that the salmon had spawned. In fact, the salmon begin to spawn in McClond River some 
time in August and are through spawning, or nearly through, by the 20th of September. 

We caught plenty of salmou in the seine, but only rarely a female with ova. By hard fishiug and 
hauling the seine every night, and sometimes all night, we succeeded in catching 26 salmou, including 
both sexes, in spawning condition, by the 28th of September. On the night of the 28th, at midnight, 
as the returns did not seem to warrant the expense of handling the seine, I stopped fishing Of the 
26 breeding salmon caught, 12 were females, and yielded .50,000 eggs. Of this number, 20,000 were 
destroyed by the terrible heat of the last of September, the mercury on some days reachiuj; as high 
as 112" in the shade. The remaining 30,000 did well in spite of many dangers from sediment and 
from a fungoid growth which seemed to penetrate the brook water on hot days, and which rendered 
constant vigilance necessary; and on the 12th day of October the most advanced eggs showed eye- 
spots. By Friday, October 18, all the eggs were ready to pack for shijiment, but, owing to miscarriaoe 
of a letter, the moss, which was to be delivered on the previous Tuesday, did not arrive until the 
evening of the following Tuesday. On the next day, October 23, the eggs were packed and shipped 
to Sacramento, where I placed them in charge of Wells, Fargo &, Co., by whom they were forwarded 
east on the 25th of October, 1872. 

These were the first live salmon eggs that crossed the coutiuent from the I'aciflc 
to the Atlantic. 

Here let me quote again from the same report : ' 

The conditions of hatching salmon eggs in California are wholly difterent from those which 
present themselves in similar work in the East. 

At the East you have to guard against cold, in California you have to guard against heat ; at the 
East you can usually find a good spring in a favorable locality; here it is out of the (|Ucstion; at 
the East a brook will usually answer the purposes of hatching water in the absence of a spring; in 
California the brooks as a rule are wholly unsuitable for hatching; at the East the eggs are hatching 



' United States Fish Commissioner's Report, 1872-73, pages 171-173. 



208 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

in the winter; in Califomiii the Hiilmou sjiawu in the sunmier; and fuially, most of the liatching work 
is done in California before the Atlantic fish begin to spawn. 

I tried three ways of capturing the parent salmon; first, by the Indian trap: second, by a stake 
net and pound; third, by a sweep seine. The Indian trap lousists of a fence of stakes or bushes 
built out into the river at a fall or rapid in the form of a letter V, having the angle downstream, 
and a basket trap at the angle. This method proved perfectly worthless, as of course it must, for 
catching healthy lish, aa this contrivance catches only the exhausted tish that are going down the 
river and none of the good lish that are coming up. 

The second method of using a stake net did not work, on account of the vohime and force of 
the river current. I set the stake net so as to just reverse the form of tlje Indian trap ; that is, so that 
it formed the letter V with the angle upstream, and a trap or pound in the angle. As it happened, it 
was too late for such a net to be efiective, because the salmon were all going down at that time, and 
none, or at most a very few, were coming up; but even if the salmon had been coming up, this 
contrivance would not have answered here as a permanency, because the V("locity and volume of 
water in the McCloud are such as would ultimately tear any such net away in any place where it could 
otherwise be set to advantage. 

The third method, of sweeping with a seine, worked to perfection. In some of the holes, and 
especially in one large hole near which it is proposed to |)lace the hatching works next year, any nnmber 
of parent salmcm can be caught in the proper season. The only objection to hauling a seine in these 
places is that as the lioat taking out the seine turns to come ashore again it is drawn near the brink 
of the rapids, over which it would be dangerous to go in the night. This is an objection, however, 
which skill and nerve can always overcome. 

On the darkest nights the scene on the river bank was exceedingly wild and picturesque. Behind 
us was the tall, dark shadow of Persephone Mountain, and before us at our feet ran the gleaming rapid 
current of the McCloud, while the camp lire threw an unsteady light upon the forest, mountain, and 
river, suddenly cut off by the dense darkness beyond. The flaming jiitch-pine torches stuck into the 
sandy beach at intervals of 20 feet to guide the boatmen, the dusky forms of a half-dozen Indians 
coiled aronnd the lire, or stoically watching the tishing, the net, the fishing boat, and the struggling 
iish added to the otfect, and made a picture which, especially when the woods were set on fire to 
attract the salmon, was one of surpassing interest. It was quite impressive, in the midst of these 
surroundings, to reflect that we were beyond the white man's boundary, in the home of the Indian, 
where the bear, the panther, the deer, and the Indian had lived for centuries undisturbed. 

As will be seen by the foregoing, Baird station of the United States Fish Com- 
mission was founded in August, 1S72. It was known as McCloud River station until 
187.S, when tlie writer, having succeeded in getting a post-office established on the river, 
named thepost-offlce "Baird," after the distinguished first Fish Commissioner of the 
United States, Hon. Spencer F. Baird, since which time the station has been called 
Baird station. 

The first plant on McCloud Eiver was a very modest aft'air. It consisted of a rough- 
board, one-room cabin, 10 by 14 feet, and 24 hatching-troughs in the open air, each 
covered, of course, but with no roof over them. The results of the first year were 
Tuodest enough, too. The whole net product of the season's operations was only oO,UOO 
salmon eggs, costing over $100 per 1,000, and when these were shipped across the 
continent to their destination in New Jersey 24,000 were lost in transit, leaving only 
0,000 good eggs to be hatched and planted in the tributaries of the Atlantic. Never- 
theless, two important facts were established bj- the experiment, compared with the 
value of which the cost of the enterprise was tiifling. The experiment establis^hed 
the fact that salmon eggs could be obtained in future from the Pacific Coast, and 
probably in large quantities, and also the fact, most important of all at that time, that 
salmon eggs could be shipped alive across the continent. The last fact was the more 
valuable, because up to that time salmon eggs had never been subjected to a long 
journey by rail, and serious doubts had been often expressed by exi)erts as to the 
l)Ossibility of getting salmon eggs alive from the Pacific to the Atlantic. 



Bull, U. S, F. C. 1896. (To face page 208.) 



Plate 74 











PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 209 

Previous to this year the Pacific Coast, as a source of supply in procuriug salmon 
eggs, was an untried field. No one knew anything definite about it. Everything 
was conjectural. The sending oil', also, of tlie delicate embryos packed in wooden 
boxes, to run the gauntlet of the vague and innumerable dangers of a. journey across 
the continent, seemed like sailing out into an undiscovered sea; but now that the 
season was over the untried field had become familiar ground, and a path over the 
unknown sea had been found. In the number of eggs procured the results of the first 
year were small, but in the practical demonstration of what it was possible to accom- 
plish on the Pacific (Joast, the results of the first year's operations on the McCloud 
equal or surpass those of any subsequent season. 

It may also be mentioned here that a valuable mass of information concerning 
the natural history of the salmon of the Sacramento was obtained this year, and 270 
valuable specimens of the fauna of California, chiefly fishes, of course, were collected 
and forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution. 

The next year {1.S7.'5), wishing to follow up the lead now clearly brought to view. 
Professor Baird dispatched tlie writer a second time to California, with instructions to 
procure as many salmon eggs as possible. 

Here I will quote from my reports: 

Having secured supplies and men for the season's campaign, I left this (San Francisco) city again 
for McCloud River on the 5th of August, arriving at camp the next morning at daylight. 

The year before, the idea of using McCloud River water not having suggested itself, 1 had been 
obliged to locate the camp and hatching works at a considerable distance from the river in order to 
obtain brook water for maturing the eggs. The inconvenience of this arrangement, which placed the 
lishing-grouuds and hatching-works a mile apart, is apparent. In fact, the constant necessity for 
crossing and carrying materials from one point to the other, frequently in a temperature of 100- F. in 
the shade, became so intolerable before the season was over, with its consequent labor, risk, and loss 
of time, that I resolved, if possible, the next season to bring the camp, hatching-works, tishing- 
grounds, and stage communication together at one place. This I was fortunately enabled to do by 
using the river water for hatching .at a point where the California and Oregon stage road touches the 
west bank of the McCloud. The first plan for conveying the water supply from a higher part of the 
river to the hatching works was not successful, on account of there not being sufiBcient fall for a 
satisfactory h.atching apparatus, and for other reasons. This plan was therefore .abandoned and the 
attempt was nuide to raise water from the river by a wheel placed in the current. This method 
worked to our entire satisfaction. 

Having moved the station to the bank of McCloud River, we began fishing in midsummer, think- 
ing that the salmon could be caught and safely confined until the coming of the spawning season 
rendered them ready for use. In this we met with a great and complete disap|)ointment. 

The confinement of the parent salmon in suitable iuclosures. though it seems so simple a matter, 
was a very trying and difficult problem to solve, and gave us no end of trouble. To show the charac- 
ter of this difficulty, I will give my experience in the order in which it came. We began building our 
iuclosures by staking down a small circular fence of stakes in a .shallow place in tlie river near the 
shore. The stakes were driven down one by one. very firmly, and then firmly bound together and 
held in their place by withes. The main objection at first to this was that it was on too small a scale. 
We then built other iuclosures on the same plan, but larger and deeper. This, however, gave the fish 
more scope for jumping, and, .although the top of the st,akes w.as several feet above the surface of the 
water in the iuclosure, the salmon easily jumped over them .and escaped into the river. We then put 
a covering, or roof, over the corral on a level with the top of the fence. The salmon now, although 
they could not escape by jumping out, were no less persistent in their attempts to do so, and literally 
wore .and lashed themselves to death in their frantic and ceaseless efforts to escape. I then l)uilt a 
large, covered, wooden box. It) feet long and about 4 feet deep and .5 feet broad, with wide scams 
between the boards to let the water through, and anchored it in the current. As the box, when soaked, 
sank nearly its depth in the water, the salmon had no chance to jump and lash themselves .as in the 
staked inclosure, and we flattered ourselves we had found the solution of this troublesome problem 

F. C. B. 18%-U 



210 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

of providins; a suitable place of confinement; but what was our surprise and disappointment when, 
on cxaminin;; tlie box a few days later, we found the salmon all dead. The close confinement had 
really prevented them from injuring themselves as before by jumping, but at the saint! time had acted 
so unfavorably in other ways as to cause their death. 

The priispect now looked very discouraging. We could catch salmon euougli for our purpose, 
but we could not keep them alive. They were, in fact, dying as fast >is we caught tliem. It now 
occurred to us that an open jiond. supplied by a good stream of river water, would obviate the diffi- 
culties ]ire8ent((l, as the iish, having nothing but dry land to .jump onto, would give up jumping 
and remain iiuiet. I accordingly put on a force of Indians at once, ;iud in a few days had a pond of 
considerable size ready, and supplied by a stream of water ;takeu from the flume which conveyed the 
river water from the wheel to the hatching-house. A large number of salmon were then jmt in here, 
and we felt decidedly encouraged. ]!ut now a new dilliculty jiresented itself, viz, the tish would not 
ripen in the pond. Whether it was that the roiling of the pcmd by their movements when frightened 
prevented the eggs and milt from maturing, or whether the friction produced by their incessant 
jumping in tlio river is one of the necessary conditions of tlieir ripening, I do not know, but it is 
certain that neitlier eggs nor milt matured in the pond, and I think we did not take a single ripe egg 
or any first-rate milt from one of the fish there con lined. Jly next move was to build a close boiird floor 
over the staked inclosurcs in the river, almost touching the surface of the water. This prevented the 
fish from wearing themselves out by jumping and did not seem to interfere with their ripening, but 
it dill not keep them wholly from dying. .\t last I became convinced, and am still of the opinion, that 
the .Sacramento spawning salmon can not be hept alive in any inclosure on a small scale. There 
seemed now to be but one alternative left, and that was to let those die that were confined, and to 
keep on fishing and select such fish as Ave could use .is we went along. This we did, and fortunately 
there were so many fish running in the river that we were able, even after this, to ol)tain enough to 
furnish tlie recjuisite su|iply of eggs. 

Two million salmon eggs were taken this season on the McCloud, most of which were 
shipped across the continent. It was not a hirge number, but, as in 1872, it demon- 
strated two iinportaut facts: one was the certainty that htrge numbers of eggs coukl 
be obtained lieie, the otlier that a. large percentage of the eggs could be shii)ped 
across the continent alive and in good condition. I'revious to the operations of this 
year it was not known positively that great quautities of salmon eggs could be pro 
cured on this coast, nor was it by any means thorou,glily established that most of the 
eggs could make the .journey across the continent safely. ^Yhcn this seaison was over? 
however, it was known that an immense juimber of salmon eggs could be obtained on 
this coast, and also that a great majority of them coitld be sent alive to the Atlantic. 

I will now quote from the report of the United States Fish (Jommissioner for 
1873-74, relative to some of the difficulties encountered and the means employed: 

In the season of 1872 1 used water for hatching from a spring brook which emptied into the McClond 
a short distance above the site of our present camp, and which had its source about a mile to the west 
of the river. This brook gave us no end of trouble, on account of its uusuitableness to its purpose. Its 
average flow in the morning was a little over 1,000 gallons an hour, but at night, after a very hot day, 
it would shrink to 250 gallons. It would also heat up some days to a very dangerous temperature; 
then, again, the hogs, which here run in the woods in a semi-wild state, would wallow in it .and make 
it so roily that all attempts to filter it clean were fruitless; and last, but not least, there was present 
in the water all the time a vegetable growth, resembling our eastern Conferva, yet somewhat dissimilar 
to it, that no device of oursconld cleanse the water of. It seemed to be ubicjuitous, and gave a great 
deal of trouble. 

These combined disadvantages of the water supply of 1872 decided me to abandon it this season 
and to look elsewhere for water. But here a new difficulty arose. There was no other spring or brook 
of any magnitude within several miles. To go that distance to locate would either destroy our stage 
communication or take ns away from the river. There was but one alternative left, and that was 
to take the water supply from the McCloud. To accomplish this, a ditch was commenced aliout 50 



PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIi^C COAST. 211 

rods above the new batchingliouse site iiud was coutimied for 200 fet't, when it was iibaudomd, the 
obstacles in the way of its smcessful prosecution making it jiracticallj' useless. 

We were now left without any water supply whatever. There were salmon in abundance at onr 
very feet, but no water to hatch the eggs with. lu this emergency the idea of raising water from the 
river itself by a wheel was suggested and immediately put into practice. From this time till it was 
finished, the wheel was the central object of interest at the camp. So much depended upon it and its 
successful working, and the project was so novel aud unprecedented, that the progress of the work on 
it was watched with the greatest solicitude, and at last, when it was completed and actually revolved 
and lifti'd its 6,000 gallons of water an hour higher than our heads aud jioured it down the flume into 
the liatchiug-troughs, our relief and enthusiasm were unbounded. I celebrated the occasion by raising 
at sunset a large American flag over the camp. 

The ue.vt year, 1874, the problems of procuring the salmon eggs and sending them 
to the Athmtic. having been solved, the question on hand was liow to obtain as many 
eggs as the conditions rendered possible. The solution of this (juestion was very 
nearly reached this year, 5,00(),00{) eggs being secured. 

The principal events of this year at the station were the introduction throughout 
the whole hatching-house of the deep trays with the Williamson troughs, aud the 
building of a salmou-proof rack entirely across McCloud River, just opposite the 
station, in order to hold the breeding salmon in the vicinity of the seining-ground 
by preventing them from going any farther up the river, their instinct, of course, 
keeping them from going down the river. Both these devices worked admirably. 

1 will quote from the Gommissiouer's report for lS7-!-73: 

The deep trays answered their purpose to perfection. The water, entering from the bottom and 
finding its exit from above the eggs, necessarily permeated all of them continually. It also kept the 
eggs suspended to a certain degree in the water, so that the underlying tiers were partly relieved of 
the weight of those above them. At first we placed the eggs in these trays 8 layers deep, but as the 
season progressed the deep trays worked so well that the layers were increased to 12, and, so far as 
could be learned, without detriment to the eggs. 

I am free to say that this combination of deep wire-netting trays with the Williamson plan of 
hatching-troughs is the best apparatus for maturing salmon eggs that I have yet seen. It is simple, 
compact, aud eft'ective. By means of it we hatched 18,000 eggs to the superficial foot of hatching- 
troughs without the least difficulty; so that in one length of our hatching-troughs of 80 feet we 
matured 1,500,000 salmon eggs. 

The rack just mentioned made the best kind of inclosure for the breeding salmon, 
enabling us to dispense with all the pens and pounds, etc., wliich caused so much 
trouble and disappointment the previous year. 

Tlie report continues: 

When the salmon had made an unsuccessful assault upon the dam, tbeyfell back into the hole .at 
the foot of the rapids, which formed the lower lishiug-ground. Here they werepractically in as secure 
confinement as if they had been caught aud placed in a pound, for tliedam prevented them from going 
upstream, and their irrepressible instinct to ascend the river jirevented them from going down. Every 
foot of this hole was swept by the seine. No better corral or inclosure for confining the fish could be 
constructed. Here they had their natural habitat and surroundings, the whole volume of McCloud 
River for a water-supply, and nothing whatever to prevent them from keeping healthy and in first-rate 
condition. It was the best possible kind of a pound for them. Last year they lashed themselves to 
pieces trying to escape from their artificial pens. This year they kept as fresh and well as could be 
wished. They accumulated in this hole by thousands. When any were wanted, it was only neces- 
sary to extend the net around them and haul them in. Once or twice no less than 15,000 pounds of 
salmon must have been inclosed in the net. They formed a solid mass, reaching several yards from 
the shore, aud filling the net 2 or 3 feet deep. If I should say 20,000 pounds, I do not think it would 
be exaggerating. 



212 BULLETIN OF THK UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

This year the station graduated ftom its experimental stage, and from tliis time 
forward was recognized as a permanent station of tlie Fisli Commission. 

Tlie next year, 1875, and tlie subsequent years previous to 18S3, tiie main features 
of the worli of the station having been settled, operations were conducted on the same 
lines as in 1874. tlie chief desiderata now being to increase tlie efficiency of the station 
and to reduce the pro rata expense of procuring and distributing the eggs. 

The story of the happenings at the station consequently now become less inter- 
esting, but a few important events may be worth mentioning. 

The prominent feature of the season of 1875 was the abundance of spawning salmon 
in the McGloud. They were so thick in the river in July that Ave counted a hundred 
salmon jumping out of the water in the space of a minute, making 0,000 to be actually 
seen in the air in an hour. Nearly 9,000,000 eggs were taken, and there were more 
to be liad for tlie taking. The foHowing statistics may be interesting: 

TUiTo were in bulk almost 100 bushels o£ salmdu ei^gs. To mature these eggs 1,200,000,000 foot- 
)i(iuii<ls of water were piuuped from the river l>y the wheel-pump. It took 100 I)ushel8 of moss from 
Mount Shasta aud over SOO yards of mosc|uito-bar to Latch the eggs. When i)ackcd, they filled 158 
boxes 2 feet square by G inches deep. It took 79 crates, containing 2 boxes each, to hold the eggs. The 
whole lot of eggs sent east weighed, when packed, 20,000 pounds, and the express charges paid Wells, 
Fargo iV Co. were about $3,000. 

It was in this year (December 9, 1875) that 280 acres of land on the McCloud, 
including the station of the United States Fish Commission, were set aside by Presi- 
dent Grant as a government reservation. 

The first consignment of salmon eggs was sent across the equator to Australia and 
New Zealand this year. This was a very trying trip for salmon eggs, which can not 
survive a temi^erature of over 70° or 75° F., and which would hatch out in 10 days' 
journey at 60° F. The journey to Australia, however, was very successful, and, con- 
sent having been obtained to ]ilace the eggs in the ship's ice room during the voyage 
from San Francistio to Auckland, the eggs arrived in Australia in tine order. 

Some salmon eggs were hatched at the station this year and the young fish planted 
in tributaries of the Sacramento. 

Among the events of 1870 at the station, the building of the hatching-hoitse should 
be mentioned, becaufee previous to this year the hatching-troughs had all been under 
a huge tent. This year the tent was dispensed with, aud a large and very substantial 
hatching-liouse was erected. Jluch x>i'ogress had been made also in spawning the 
salmon and in j)acking the eggs for shipment, as is shown by the facts that 1,000,000 
salmon eggs were taken in a single day, September 4, aud that we succeeded in pack- 
ing, for a long j(mrney, 400,000 eggs in 1.^ hours. 

As an illustration of the effect upon the salmon-ova market of the o])erations of 
the United States Fish Commission in taking salmon eggs, I will mention the striking 
fact that " five years ago the United States paid the Canadians SKI per 1,000, in gold, 
for salmon eggs, and now the United States Fish Commission is sending salmon eggs 
from California to the British Colonies of the Pacitic for 50 cents per 1,000, being 
a reduction of price in the ratio of 80 to 1." ' 

In 1870 the practice was inaugurated of shipping the eggs for eastern consignees 
all together in a private ice car as far as Chicago, and distributing them from there 
to their various destinations by express. 



' United States Fish Commissioner's Report 1875-76, page 943. 



Bull. U. S. F. C. 1896. (To face page 212.) 



Plate 75. 




PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 213 

Prof. Baird, in his report to Oougress, speaks as folIowvS iu regard to this method: 

After careful conaideration, Mr. Stoue advised that all tbo easteru shipments of eggs iu 1876 should 
be made in bulk as far as Chicnfjo, and that a special car should he secured and properly fitted up. in 
which the egi;s sboubl lie placed aud transferred on an expri'ss train iu the care of proper messengers. 
This exjierimeut was carried out and proved an entire success, 18 consignees in 13 States receiving 
their supplies in even better condition than usual and at less expense. 

The foreign demand for ova had increased to such an extent by 1877 that during 
that year salmon eggs were sent from the McClond to Prussia, Germany, the Nether- 
lauds, England, France, Canada, Australia, and Xew Zealand. The experience 
acquired in packing and shipping the eggs enabled us this year to get them to their 
destinations with very slight loss in transit. , 

The Lijttkton Times, Christ Church, New Zeahind, of November 14, 1877, says: 

The splendid condition in which the Wellington consignment of American salmon ova has arrived 
reflects great credit ou those in America who had charge of the collecting and packing, which in 
several resjiects is an improvement on the English method. 

The War Department furnished the station a military guard this year, "which 
proved to be a very valuable acquisition. 

The hatching of a large portion of the salmon eggs for the State of California 
continued during this year and subsequent years until 1884. The year 1878 was 
the year of the immense gathering of salmon in the McCloud. Regarding this 
extraordinary appearance, my report for 1878 reads: 

I have never seen anything like it anywhere, not eveu on the tributaries of the Columbia. On 
the afternoon of the l.")th of August there was ,a space in the river below the rack about ,50 feet wide 
aud 80 feet long, where, if a jierson could have balanced himself, he could actually have walked any- 
where on the hacks of the salmon, they were so thick. I have often heard travelers make this remark 
about salmon in small streams, so I know that it is not an uucommou thing in streams below a certain 
size, but to see salmon so thick as this in a river of So great volume as the McCloud must, I think, 
be a rare sight. About this time I kept a jiatrol on the bridge every moment, night aud day, and 
this precaution, though an expensive one, was well rewarded, for this vast number of salmon con- 
tinually striking the bridge with sledge-hammer blows were sure, in the course of time, to displace 
something and efl'ect a passage through to the upper side, and when one did succeed iu getting 
through, the others would follow with surprising rapidity, one after another, like a flock of sheep 
going through a break in a fence. This swarm of salmon just alluded to remained at the bridge and 
kept up the attack at one point or another for three days, and then fell back to the pools below, 
where, with occasional renewals of their atiacks, they remained until they were caught in the seine. 

The spawning season began the 20th of August, with the taking of 30,000 eggs from 7 fish. 
Every haul of the net brought an enormous quantity of salmou. Without our trying to capture 
many, the net wouhl frequently bring iu a thousand at a haul. We found very few ripe fish, how- 
ever, until the 2Sth of August, when tlie spawning season set in in good earnest, and from this date 
to the last day of taking eggs the yield was very large and remarkably regular. 

This leads mo to say that the most extraordinary feature about the fishing season this year was 
that the salmon iu the river did not seem to be diminished by our constant seining. We made enor- 
mous hauls with the net every day, spawned a large number of salmon, aud gave a liirge number to 
the Indians for their winter supplj', but alw.ays the next day the spawning salmon seemed to he as 
thick as ever. This abundance of salmon was a daily surprise to everyone. Every d,ay wewere regu- 
larly, though agreeably, disappointed. It was three weeks before we made any impression ou the 
spawners in the river. At last, about the 1.5th of September, the females with spawn beg.an to fall ofl" 
a little, but only a little. We had enough eggs by this time, however, aud stopped fishing <ni the ISth 
of September, not because of any scarcity of s.alnum, but because we did not want any more eggs. We 
h.id iu the hatching-house, on the evening of that day, 12, 240,000 salmou eggs, according to our record 
count, tliough without doubt 11,000,000 in reality, .as our method of counting purposely left a large 
outside margin for emergencies. Had wo continued to fish and take eggs till the close of the fishing 
season we could proliably have taken IS, 000,000 eggs, aud perliaps more. 



214 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

One of tbe ways (Miiployed for increasing tlie catch of breeders is so i)eculiar tbat 
perhaps a description of it may not be out of place here: 

As may be readily supposed, the coustaut drawing of the net over the seining-hole had the effect 
of frightening the salmon olV the ground. Of course it w.as necessary to get them back again before 
they spawned, as otherwise we should have lost the eggs. This year I accomplisheil it in this w.ay: 
1 had several Indians go up to the bridge armed with long poles. At a given signal three Indians 
jumped into the foaming rapids below the bridge, and by splashing the water with their arms and 
limbs and making as much of a disturbance in tbe water .-is possible, did everything tliey could to 
frighten the salmon out of the rapids. On reaching the deep holes, vfhere the fish lay colloctcd by 
hundreds and perhaps thousands, the Indians dove down in the very midst of the swarms of salmon, 
and, stirring them up with their long i>oles, succeeded in driving them out. 

On these occasions the hauling of the seine was quite an exciting event. The Indian rwimmers, 
their dark heads just showing above the white foam, screaming and shouting in the icy waters and 
brandishing their long poles, came down the rapids at great speed, disappearing entirely now and 
then as they dove down into a deep hole. As soon as they approached within about 4 rods of the 
fishing skirt', the boat shot out from the shore, the second boatman braced himself and his oars for a 
quick pull down along the bank, the man at the stern of the first boat began paying out the seine, 
the fishermen cm the beach gathered at their respective ropes, the men on shore began throwing rocks 
in the rapids, and in a few moments the net was drawn to the beach with an enormous mass of 
struggling, writhing salmon, often weighing in the aggregate not less than 4 or 5 tons. Then the 
fishermen sprang into the water and examined the fish, taking the ripe ones to the corral and 
throwing the unripe ones back into the river until the net was emptied. Then all was quiet again 
and the men proceeded to take the eggs from the ripe salmon which they had captured. 

This year, in packing eggs, we averaged 500,000 an hour: 

Had not the character of the packing, as shown by the way in which the boxes were finally 
opened, been made the subject of nnnsuiil commendation from the parties who were engaged in 
unpacking the eggs at their destination, I should hardly venture to say how rajjidly they were packed, 
lest it might be thought to imply undue haste or want of care. I will, however, under the circum- 
stances, state that the eggs were actually jiacked at the rate of 500,000 an hour, and I will add my 
own testimony also, that I never saw eggs packed with more care, fidelity, and pains, the rapidity with 
which the work was dispatched being wholly the result of experience and skill and the enthusiasm 
with which everyone employed did the part of the work which fell to his share, — (United States Fish 
Commissioner's Report, 1878, page 7t)2. ) 

We liad an Indian scare this year and the War Department sent us rifles tind 
ammunition. It was e.xtremely unpleasant for a few weeks at the station, but it 
resulted in no actual injury. It will be remembered, perhaps, that during the pre- 
vious year a gigantic plan had been arranged for the universal njirising of all the 
Indian tribes between the Missouri on the east and tlie Cascade Range and the Sierra 
Nevadas on the west. This came very near being successful, and if it had not been 
broken up, as it was, by the vigilance and activity of the United States troops it would 
have resulted in widespread calamity in the sparsely settled regions of the West. 
Fortunately, General Howard gave it a deathblow in the (;aptureof Chief Jose])h and 
his band near the IMissouri, but the infection spread as far west as McCloud River, 
and for a few weeks rendered life there anything but agreeable. 

In 1S7'J the e.xperiment was tried of putting two sacks across the McCloud, one 
above tbe seining-ground, wholly closed to the salmon, of course, and one below tbe 
seining-ground, partly open at the bottom. It was thought in this way that more 
lireeding salmon would remain on the seining ground, but it was not a success and the 
results did not warrant a renewal of the experiment. We had a military guard at the 
station this year, and tlie piesence of soldiers was found very useful, but they were 
iiot needed this .season for protection from the Indians, who bad become (^uiet again 



PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 215 

and had almost dio^jped eutirely their hostile demonstrations of the previous year. 
No trouble will ever be ex])erienced here again from the Indians as a body. The 
gradual disappearance of the natives has contributed to this result, and railroads 
and wliite settlements have done the rest. 

It was during this year that the McClond Kiver trout-breeding station was estab- 
lished in connection with the salmon station at Baird, from which station have ema- 
nated almost all the rainbow trout (*S'. irideus) which have now become so generally 
distributed over this country and Europe. The other trout of the McCloud liiver are 
the Dolly Varden {Sulrclinus malma) and a new species, the uo-shee, first described 
by Dr. Jordan as follows : 

Description of the iio-shee trout (.s'rt/ma ga'irdneri stonei), a new subspecies of trout from McCloud River. 
Salmo gairdneri stonei subsp. nov. 

Allied to the form called Salmo irideus, but distinguished by its small scales, the number of scales 
in !i transverse series being; about 155, 82 before dorsal, where they are small and imbedded, 25 above 
lateral line. Teeth fewer and smaller than in var. irideus, those ou the vomer in a single zigzag series. 
Axillary scale of ventral small. Pectoral H in head. Eye large, ii in head. Maxillary two-tenths. 
Upper part plain greenish. Spots small and sparse on dorsal, adipose fin, and caudal ; a few spots only 
onposterior part of the boily." A faint red lateral band; cheeks and opercles with red; no red between 
branches of lower jaw. Depth 4 in length. Anal rays 11. Described from a specimen 14 inches in 
length, eollecred by Livingston Stone, in McCloud Kiver, at Baird, Cal. 

This form is well known to the Indians and to the fishermen on the Upper Sacramento. Accord- 
ing to Mr. Stone, the Indian fishermen say that it is abundant in the McCloud Kiver, about 8 miles 
above Baird. They are larger iu size than the ordinary irideus, one having been taken weighing 12 
pounds. Named for Livingston Stone, director of the United States fish-hatchery at Baird. 

Nothing of special interest occurred in 1880, but the next year, 1881, was made 
memorable by the extraordinary rise in McCloud River, which carried away almost 
the entire station in one night : 

The month of January was attended by a rainfall wholly unprecedented' in northern California 
since its settlement by white men. Forty-seveu inches of water fell in Shasta during this month, and 
iu tlie mountains where the fishery is situated the fall must have l)een much greater. On the 27th of 
January the McCloud had riseri 12i feet, but the water had been higher than that in previous years, 
and still no one supposed that the l)uildings were iu danger. Again the river fell, but this time the 
fall was succeeded by the greatest rise of water ever known in this river before, either by white men 
or Indians now living. Duriug the first days of February the rain poured down in torrents. It ia 
said by those who saw it that it did not fall as rain usually falls, but it fell as if thousands of tons of 
water were dropped iu a body from the sky at once. Mr. J. 15. Campbell relates that near his house, 
in a cauyon which is dry in summer, the water in not many minutes became 30 feet deep, and the 
violence of the current was so great that trees 100 feet long were swept down, trunk, branches, and 
all, into the river. Ou the 2d of February McCloud River began to rise at the rate of a foot an hour. 
l!y 9 o'clock in the evening it was 16J feet above its ordinary level. The water was soon a foot above 
the danger mark, and the buildings began to rock and totter .as if nearly ready to fall. There was 
now no hope of s.aviug them or anything in them. At 2.30 a.m. February 3 they toppled over with a 
great crash, and were seized by the resistless current and hurried dowu the river. 

When the day dawned nothing was to be seen of the main structures which composed the United 
States salmon-breeding station on the McCloud Kiver. The mess-house, where the workmen had eaten 
and slept for nine successive seasons, and which contained the original cabin, 12 by 14 feet, where the 
jiioneers of the United States Fish Commission ou this coast lived duriug the first season of 1872; the 
liatehing-house, which, with the tents which had preceded it, had turned out 70,000,000 salmon eggs, 
the distribution of which had reached from New Zealand to St. Petersburg; the large dwelling-house, 

'Rainfall at Shasta: January, 1881, 47 inches; February, 1881, 17.5 inches; total for the season, 
109.7 inches. 



216 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

to which improveinouts ami louveuienccs had beeu added each year for five years — these were all gone, 
every vestige of them, and nothing was to he seen in the direction where they stood except the wreck 
of the faithful wheel which through summer's sun and winter's rain hail poured 10(1,000.000 gallons 
of water over the .sahnon eggs iu the liatchery, and which now lay dismantled and ruined upon the 
tiathoats which had supported it, and which were hept Irom escaping by two wire cables made fast to 
the river bank. The river continued to rise the next forenoon until it reached a maximum height of 
26it feet al>ove its summer level. This, of course, is not a very extraordinary rise for a slow river; but 
when it is remembered that the McCloud is at low water a succession of cascades and rapids, having 
an average fall of 40 feet to the mile, it will he seen at once what a vast volume of water must have 
beeu poured into this rapid river in a very short time, and with what velocity it must have come, to 
have raised the liver 26 feet when its natural fall was sweeping it out of the canyon so swiftly. Those 
who saw this mighty volume of water at its highest point, rushing through its mountain canyon with 
such speed, say that it was appalling, while the roai of the torrent was so deafening that persons 
standing side by side on the bank could not hear each other when talking in an ordinary tone of voice. 

It must be over two centuries since MeCloud River rose, if ever, as high as it did last winter. 
There is very good evidence of this on tlie very spot where the lishery was located, for just behin<l the 
mess house, and exactly under where tlie tishcry llag floats with a good south l)reeze. is an Indian grave- 
yard, where the venerable cliiefs of the Met 'loud have been taken for burial for at least two hundred 
years, and there is no knowing how much longer. Une-tliird of this graveyard was swept away by 
tlu.^ high water last winter, and the ground behiw was strewn witli dead men's bones. Now. the fact 
that tlie Indians have been in the habit of burying their dead in this spot for two centuries ])roves 
that the river has never risen to the heiglit of last winter's rise within tLiat time, for nothing could 
induce the Indians to bury their fathers where they thought there was the least danger of the sacred 
■bones being disturbed by the floods. 

When the waters subsided it became apparent what a clean sweep the river had made. Here 
and there the stumps of a few posts, broken oS and worn down nearly to the ground by driftwood 
rubbing over them, formed the only vestiges whatever to indicate that anytliing had ever existed 
there where the station stood but tlie clean rocky bar that the falling water had left. 

The writer, at the directioa of Professor Baird, proceeded immediately to rebuild 
the station, uuder a special appropriation made by Congress for that purpose. The 
entire cost of the new station, iiicliiding the expense of taking the season's salmon 
eggs (7,50(t,0()()), was ¥lo,0()(). 

The only accident that ever occurred to the current wheel during the egg-taking 
season happened this year, but it was properly repaired, and owing to tlie really mag- 
nificent help of the Indians, who worked in(;essantly for seventeen hours, iio losses 
occurred to the eggs. The breeding salmon appeared in the river in great numbers, 
making it necessary to take eggs during only about half the season. 

Nothing of special interest hap])ened in 1882, but in 1883 great dismay was caused 
by the nonappearance of the salmon in the upper tributaries of the Sacramento. The 
Southern Pacific Railroad Company had begun building its line from Redding north 
toward Oregon, and during the summer had leached the month of Pitt River, iibout 8 
miles below Baird station. It is said to be the custom of this company to emjiloy a 
great deal of gunpowder and dynamite for making excavation.s, and they had used 
these explosives to such au extent at and below the mouth of Pitt River that the 
breeding salmon coming up the river to spawn either could not get by where the 
blasting was going on or were killed outright by it. At all events, salmon were very 
scarce iu the McCloud, and less than a million eggs were secured this season, and 
these only with great difficulty. 

Owing to the destruction of the salmon by the railroad workers,' Professor Baird 



' We were told that there were 6,000 workmen, white men and Chinamen, employed in the vicinity 
of Pitt River iu building the road. 



PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 217 

discontinued operations at tlie salinou-breeding station on McClond River in 1884, and 
theywere not i-enewed till 1888, when the writer was made field superintendent of tbe 
Pacific Coast, and instructed by Hon. Marshall McDonald, tlien United States Com- 
ndssioner of Fish and Fisheries, to push vigorously the salmon -breeding work on this 
coast. The writer reopened Baird station in the spring of 18S8, ;iud leaving Mr. 
George B. Williams, jr., in charge as tenjporary superintendent, proceeded to Oregon 
to carry out the instructions of the Commissioner to secure for the United States the 
salmon-breeding station on Clackanias River, Oregon. This station, whicli tlie writer 
built for the Oregon and Washington Fish Propagating Company (cannery owners on 
the Columbia) in 1877, was still owned by them, but had been leased to the State of 
Oregon. The company at first wanted $10,000 for the station, but after several weeks 
of consulting and negotiating they consented to deed the place to the Ignited States 
for nothing, and the Oregon commissioners gave up their lease on the reimbursement 
to them by the United States of the actual cost of inijjrovements they had just made. 
The transfer was jiracticaliy made July 1, 188.S, on which day the splendid salmon- 
breeding i)lant on Clackanias River became a station of the United States Fish 
Commission. 

Upon the writer's recommendation ^Ir. Williams was confirmed as permanent 
superintendent of Baird station, and held that position from 1888 to July, 1892. 
During this time an average of 3,000,000 salmon eggs was taken annually and various 
improvements made to the station, including the construction of a "winter-quarters 
building." which has always been used since for the superintendent's residence. 

In August, 1892, on the resignation of Mr. Williams, the writer resumed charge 
of Baird station. Not much was accomplished that year, but the next year, 1893, 
nearly 8,000,000 eggs were taken. The next year, 1894, owing to very unexpected 
high water in October the number of salmon eggs collected dropped to about 4,500,000, 
but the next year, 1S9.J, the number rose again to nearly 10,000,000, breaking the 
record of this station for every previous year except the extraordinary season of 1878, 
above mentioned. 

Of these last few years, the work having fallen into specified grooves, there is very 
little to relate, one season being very much like another. One thing, however, which 
promises to be very useful to the station in the future, as well as a saving of exi)ense, 
deserves mention, and that is the construction of a ditch for bringing the water 
supply bj' gravity to the hatching-house during tbe fall run of salmon. 

It is dangerous to use the current wheel in the fall, and it is expensive to run the 
engine. The ditch does away with both, and as it requires no watching in good 
weather it saves the expense of a night watchman. The ditch takes the water from 
Wiley Creek at a point about 1^ miles from the hatching house, and up to this time 
has worked admirably, which is all the more encouraging because an irrigating ditch 
grows safer and more reliable every year it is used. 

It should be mentioned here that, while at first, from 1872-1883, inclusive, Baird 
station was operated chiefly for other waters of the United States, now it is almost 
wholly ojierated for the benefit of the Pacific Coast, as the distribution this year, 
189.1-9(i, will show. 

Perhaps this account of Baird station ought not to be concluded without a brief 
reference to a station of the Calilbrnia State Fish Commission, which may possibly 
pass very soon into the charge of the United States. This station is situated on a 



218 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

small tiibntary of the Sacramento called Battle Creek, and is about 7 miles from the 
town of Anderson, in Shasta County, though it is itself just over the Tehama County 
line. This Battle Creek is the most extraordinary and prolific place for collecting 
qninnat-salmon eggs yet known, though the eggs are limited to the fall run of salmon, 
as none worth mentioning of the summer run of fish ascend Battle Creek. The first 
salmon make their appearance early in the fall, and before November and during that 
month they are found in almost incredible numbers in the wide lagoon extending 
about 2^ miles up the creek from its mouth. I am well aware that fishculturists' 
predictions are generally overdrawn and consequently disappointing in the end, but 
it seems to me safe to say that 20,000,(100 salmon eggs can be taken on Battle Creek 
in six weeks of a favorable year; 10,000,000 eggs were actually taken there in three 
weeks last year, and the (3alifornia Fish Commission only stopped then because their 
hatching-house was filled. Battle Creek will not produce eggs of the summer-run 
salmon, but it will yield an almost unlimited number of fall-run eggs, until unfavorable 
conditions prevent the breeding salmon from ascending the stream. 

To return to the Clackamas station, in Oregon, I will say that unfavorable condi- 
tions have alreadj^set in there and seriously interfered with the operations of the station. 
When it first passed into the haiuls of the United States Fish Commission it yielded 
."),000,000 salmon eggs a year, but it was too near civilization to prosper long as a 
salmon-breeding station, and gradually mills and dams, timber cutting on the npijer 
waters of the Clackamas, and logging in the river, together with other adverse 
influences, so crippled its etKciency that it was given up this year as a collecting-point 
for salmon eggs, but several million eggs have been sent there from Baird station and 
Battle Creek, so that a very respectable number of salmon eggs will doubtless be 
hatched for the benefit of Columbia Ifiver this season. 

I may add here that several attcmi)ts hn\'e been made to discover and establish 
salmon-breeding points in the basin of the Columbia, but none has been found suffi- 
ciently productive to warrant their continuance. Scnne eflbrt also has been made to 
secure quinnat-salmon eggs from the snniller California streams liowing into the Pacific 
Ocean, but no great success has been attained there yet, although many quinnat and 
steelhead eggs have been secured and favorable results obtained, notably at Fort 
Gaston station and its branches, in acclimatizing several species of the Salmonida' 
not indigenous to this coast. 

The question now naturally arises, What are the results of all this great labor and 
expenditure extended over so many years! Allow me to reply as follows: 

When the work of the TInitetl States Fish Comnussion in salmon breeding was 
begun on the Pacitic Coast, it was supposed that that coast had emuigh salmon to 
spare, and it was the intention of the Commission to increase tlu^ salmon on the 
Atlantic Coast by restocking its depleted salmon rivers. The highest hopes were 
entertained of doing this. After it had become an accomplished fact that millions 
of salmon eggs had been procured on this coast, and that they had been safely 
transi»orted across the continent to the Atlantic rivers, I doubt if there was one person 
who had heard about it in America, whether ijiterested in tish-culture or not, who did 
not believe that salmon were going to become abundant again in the Atlantic rivers 
on account of the introduction of the Pacific Coast fish; and not only this, but many 
))ersons believed that several southern rivers that had never had salmon in them 
before, would now become prolific salmon streams, when they were well stocked with 



PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 219 

this uew California salmou that abounded in warm latitudes on the Pacific Coast. 
That this did not prove to be the result was a stupendous surprise and disappointment. 
The eggs hatched out beautifully. The young fry, when deposited in the fresh-water 
streams seemed to thrive eepially well. Tiiey grew rapidly and when the proper time 
came were observed to go down in vast numbers to the sea. What afterwards became 
of them will jn-obably remain forever an nufathoniable mysteiy. Except in very rare 
isolated instances, these millions of young salmon were never seen again. What 
became of them? Where did they go? Are any of them still alive anywhere in the 
boundless ocean? Or are they all dead? And if they are dead, what killed them? 
Much as this information has been desired, there lives no one who can answer these 
questions. Some have thought that they wandered oft" to the far Xorth, and so became 
lost to the civilized world. Others thought that they strayed out into the ocean and 
were devoured by marine animals and larger fish. Professor Baird once jokingly 
remarked to tlie writer that he thought they had found an underground jiassage beneath 
the continent, and had returned by it to the Pacific. One thing is certain, and that is 
that these millions of salmon have disappeared as completely from the Atlantic 
Ocean' and its tributaries as if they had all been devoured years ago by the monsters 
of the deep. 

Referring to this unaccountable and disheartening fact, Hon. Marshall McDonald, 
United States Fish Commissioner, said, in his report for 1888 — 

These - experiments [stockiug Atlantic rivers with Califoruia salmon] were undertaken on a scale 
unprecedented in the history of fish-culture. Millions of eggs were transferred to the eastern stations, 
hatched out, and the fry plauted ia uearly every one of the larger rivers south of the Hudson. In no 
single case did the experiment prove satisfactory, and the Commissioner was forced reluctantly to 
abandon an experiment which, reasoning from a priori considerations, gave fair promises of success, 
and which, had it succeeded, would have given us a new and valuable fishery in the Atlantic rivers. 

This, however, is only one side of the case. As soon as the requisite space of time 
had elapsed after the United States Fish Commission began to return young salmou 
fry to the Sacramento, the fishes of that river showed a great increase. New canneries 
sprang u]) every succeeding year. The market for fresh and salted salmon in San 
Francisco felt the effects of the salmon-breeding work on the McCloud. 

The following interesting statement appears in the United States Fish Commis- 
sioner's Report for 1882, page 840 : 

One of the last official acts of the late Hon. B. B. Redding, .as California fish commissioner, before 
he died, was to write a letter to Professor Baird in regard to this station, in which he stated tliat sev- 
eral hundred thousand dollars had been invested in canneries on the Sacramento River, and that tliis 
capital and these men would be ultimately thrown out of employment if the salmon hatching at this 
station should be given Tip. He also stated that the hatching of salmon here had increased the annual 
salmon catch on the Sacramento 5,000,000 pounds a year, and that the canneries on the river were 
dependent upon the salmon hatching of this station for their maintenance. 



' Per contra of the above : I have been recently informed that eggs are now being taken in France 
from quinnat-salmou breeders that were raised from eggs originally sent from Baird station. The 
I'iltuhiirfi Dixjxitch, .January 13, 189ti, makes the following statement : 

"Calif jniidsahiioii in France. — French nowsp.apers a few weeks ago contained the announcement that 
a magnificent California salmon (S. (jninnal), lueasuringSJ fi'etin length, hadjust been taken in a pond 
in Landeruau, Brittany, having been bred l>y tlie mayor of that town from spawn procured from the 
Trocadero aquarium. The tlcsh is dcscrilieil as most delicious; its color is nut mentioned. This was 
followed by the capture of several smaller specimens. It has also been stated that a fish of the same 
species, weighing over 12 pounds, was caught last April at the city of Montereaii. The editor rejoices 
that this matihless breed of sabnon Inis now been acclimated and probablywill soon abound in Fiance." 

"United States Fish Commissioner's Keport, Jiage xxxv, for ISSS, 



220 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

It thus appears that altboiigli nature has evidently designed tliat tlie quiniiat 
salmon shall not take up its abode on the American shores of the Atlantic, the breed- 
ing of this fish seems to serve a legitimate and very valuable purpose in koei)ing up 
the supi)]y of its species iu its native waters of the Pacilic Slope; especially in view 
of the enormous drafts made upon these fish by the canneries and by the yearly 
increasing consumption of fresh and salted salmon. 

The prospect for the immediate future at Baird station is very ])r()mising. To begin 
with, it has a valuable and very efficient jilant in the way of buildings, apparatus, etc. 
At the ujiper or northern end of the station there is a large fenced corral or pasture 
for horses and cattle, and inclosed in this corral is a convenient stable and storehouse. 
Just below there is the hatching-house, with a (capacity of 10,0()0,{I(I0 or 12,000,000 
salmon eggs. Then comes the engine house, with a good steam engine and pump. A 
few rods below are the foreman's residence and the comfortable and commodious mess 
bouse, and nearly adjoining a store and post-office and the residence of the postmaster. 
Other smaller structures near the seining-ground complete the list of biiildiniis at the 
station, with the excej)tion of the superintendent's residence on a hill 100 feet above, 
which overlooks all or nearly all the other buildings; and last, but not least, a ditch 
li miles long brings water from a neighboring creek into the hatching-house. The 
station has still, as it always had, the hearty good-will and cooperation of the California 
State Fish Commission, which alone is a most valuable aid to its efficiency. 

Salmon are now very abundant in the Sacramento and McClond, and are on the 
increase. The situation of the station and its adaptability to its purpose are almost 
ideal. McCloud Eiver, on the banks of which it stands, is not only cold, clear, and 
very inviting to the salmon, but it is almost the only cold tributary of the Sacra- 
mento that has not been roiled by gold niiiung, in consequence of which the salmon 
come into the McCloud to breed in the summer, not only from choice, but also from 
necessity. The geological formation of the land about the river is not favorable for 
gold, which probably insures its safety indefinitely from gold miners. 

It is also an Indian country. There is not a white family on the McCloud from 
its mouth almost to Mount Shasta, except those who live at the station and at the old 
trout-pond station of the Fish Commission. Furthermore, most of the land in the 
]\IcCloud Canyon is nnproductive, which is another protection against the advent of 
white men, and as long as white men keep away from the river the salmon in it will 
retain their primeval habits and abundaju'c. The station also is situated in a United 
States reservation, which secures it from intrusion by land-jumpers or evil-minded 
people who might interfere with the salmon and salmon fishing. And, what I must 
not forget to add, it is located just at the junction of McClond Eiver and the California 
and Oregon stage road, which places the station, though in one of the wildest parts 
of California, in immediate touch with the civilized world. All these advantages 
make this station an ideal place for its purpose, and bespeak for it, for many years to 
come, an eflflcient and nseful career. And it can be further said of this station, with 
justifiable pride, that after a quarter of a century's service it still remains the only 
station in the United States that can produce every year a satisfactory quota of eggs 
of the summer run of quinnat salmon. 



Bull 



U, S. F. C 1896. (To face page 



220.) 



Plate 76. 




PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 221 



METHODS EMPLOYED BY THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION ON THE PACIFIC 
COAST FOR CAPTURING BREEDING SALMON, TAKING AM) SHIPPING THE EGGS, 
ETC., WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO BAIRD STATION, CALIFORNIA. 



CAPTURING THE BREEDING SALMON. 

The first Pacific Coast salmon captured in the United States for breeding purposes 
were cauglit in an Indian "basliet trap," on McGIoud River, in 1872. The reason that 
they were taken in this way was because there had been no time for making prepara 
tious for catching the salmon in any other way, the writer, who had been commissioned 
by Professor Baird, United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, to procure 
eggs of these salmon, having arrived on the McCloud just in the midst of the spawning 
season. Professor Baird's report for that year reads as follows: 

The propriety was strongly urged at the I5oston meeting of sending some experienced tish-culturist 
to the west coast for the pur|)ose of securing a large amount of spawn of the California salmon. At 
the suggestion of the meeting, Mr. Livingston Stone was engaged to undertake this work, and pro- 
ceeded to California as soon as he could arrange his affairs for the purpose. The experiment was, of 
course, uncertain, in the entire absence of any reliable information bearing upon the natural history 
of the species. It was not even knowu at what i)eriod they spawned, although Mr. Stone was assured 
by professed experts, on his arrival in California, that this occurs late in the month of September. 

After nnuh fruitless imiuiry, Mr. Stone at last learned, chiefly through Mr. B. H. Redding, lish 
commissioner of California, and through the chief engineer of the Central Pacihc Railroad, that the 
Indians speared salmon on McCloud River, a stream of the Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pitt River 
320 miles nearly due north of San Francisco. Proceeding to this station, in company with Mr. .John G. 
Woodl)ury, of the Acclimatization Society, Mr. Stone immediately set to work in erecting the neces- 
sary hatching estal)li8hment, although, on account of the distance from any settlement and the 
absence of special facilities, he found the undertaking both diflicult and expensive. The efforts of 
Mr. Stone and his party were prosecuted nniutermittingly, day and night, for a sufficient length of 
time to i)rove that the season had almost entirely passed and that but few spawning fish remained. 

The basket trap above mentioned consists of a partial obstruction across the 
river, made of wickerwork, in form having a general resemblance to the letter V, 
with the angle downstream. At the apex of the angle is a wicker basket, from 
which, if the lish fall into it, they can not escape. It should be mentioned here that 
after the breeding salmon ascend the river to spawn, they fall back after spawning, 
and gradually float, tail first, down the river, though occasionally they fall back in 
this way before spawning. These traps are put across the river by the Indians iu 
order to capture the salmon, without, of course, any regard to the eggs they may 
contain. Fortunately, after the arrival of the writer on the IMcCloud, a few salmon 
that had not spawned fell into these traps, and for a slight money consideration given 
to the Indians the fish were obtained and their eggs secured for maturing. 

As soon as circumstances rendered it practicable, a seine was procured and sein- 
ing was begun in regular form in McCloud Itiver; and from that time till now this 
method of seining with a sweep seine has been the best and the only successful method 
of capturing the parent salmon in the McCloud. Several experiments, however, have 
been tried, which may be worth mentioning, perhaps, simply to show that they are not 
satisfactory. 



222 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

One of these experiments was made at Baird station by using fyke nets, set in 
McOIoud Eiver. In a small stream witliout too strong a current tbis method might be 
employed advantageously, but in the rapid current of the M<'Cloud, whioli. tliougli 
not a wide stream, carries a large volume of water, the fyke net experiment ])r()ved a 
complete failure. 

One or more large wooden tra])s have almost every year been built into the rack 
which extends across the river, and at times, especially during a rain storm accom- 
panied by a marked rise in the river, large numbers of salmon are taken, but at other 
times only a few, and at all times only a small percentage of spawners are captured 
in the trai>. The trap is quite a valuable auxiliary to the seine, but it would be a poor 
dependence if relied upon exclusively, because, although it will secure a great many 
unripe flsh, the ripe ones, which are the ones that are wanted, finding an obstruction 
iu their way, settle back to tlie spawning-grounds below and remain there. 

Large dip nets have been occasionally used at the Clackamas station, iu Oregon, 
the tishermeu standing on the rack at night and dipping below it. Toward the end 
of the season this method secures a considerable number of spawners. but it involves 
labor and expense, and after all it is an open question whether most of the spawners 
taken with the dip nets would not have been captured in the regular course of fishing 

The following plan deserves a brief description, as it is, 1 think, uni(iue among 
methods employed by tishculturists for capturing salmon: 

There not being any entirely satisfactory seining-grounds at the Clackamas station, 
and the river just below the rack being shallow, we resorted to the Indian method of 
fishing. The aversion of the salmon to lieadiug downstream is well known, but when 
they are very much frightened (stam]>eded) they will turn around and rush down- 
stream at their utmost speed. The Indians take advantage of this and build a dam 
of rock or wickerwork, or anything that will present an obstruction to the frightened 
flsh. This dam is shaped like the letter V, with the angle downstream, and at the 
angle, of course, is a large trap, which they can easily enter but can not escape from. 
This method of capturing the breeding salmon was the principal one employed at the 
Clackamas, and it worked very satisfactoiily. 

At Baird station, before it became customary to put a rack every year across the 
river, the seine fishing was exclusively done after dark, and was usually kept u]) all 
night. Since the rack has been used the seine has been hauled more or less in the 
daytime, with perfectly satisfactory results. We generally bt>giu fishing now about 
4.30 a. m., and keep it up as long as the fishing warrants it. We begin again about 
5 o'clock in the afternoon and continue as we do in the morning. 

The seines used at Baird station are from 120 to 170 feet long, made of about 
28thread twine, with a 4-inch mesh and a 20 foot bag, tapering down to about G feet 
at the ends. The seines have to be double-leaded, on account of the powerful current 
of the McCloud. 

METHODS OF SPAWNING THE SALMON. 

All methods of spawning salmon are in general the same, as of course they 
must necessarily be. There are, however, some slight differences in details, chiefly 
in holding the parent fish and in the manner of impregnating the eggs. 

Where there is plenty of help and the salmon of medium size, the most expeditious 
way of holding the fish seems to be for the man who spawns the female salmon to hold 



PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 223 

the head of the salmou in one hand and to press the spawn out with the other, another 
person being employed meantime in liolding the tail of the flsh to keep it still. This 
is the method uniformly adopted at Baird station. On the Columbia, however, where 
the salmon are larger and more unmanageable, the "straight-jacket," as it is called, 
is used. This is a sort of trough, made the average length of tlui salmou and hollowed 
out to tit in general the shape of the flsh. Across the lower end of the trough is a 
permanent cleat, and at the upper end a strap with a buckle. The fish, when manip- 
ulated, is slid into the trough, the tail going down below the cleat, where it is securely 
held, and the head being immedintely buckled in at the upper end with the strap. 
The flsh is now securely held, and is unable either to get away or do any damage by 
its flouuderings, and the eggs can be pressed out at leisure. The straight-jacket is 
almost indispensable with very large salmon, and a great convenience when the 
operators are short-handed. This is the method that has been generally employed at 
Clackamas station. 

There is one more method of holding the flsh that ought to be mentioned, which 
can be adopted with medium-sized salmon, and which might be called the one-man 
method. By this method, the operator holds the head of the salmon tightly between 
his knees, and, keeping the tail of the fish still with one hand, he presses out the ova 
with the other. This is a good way where there are only one or two men to attend to 
the spawning. 

IMPREGNATING THE EGGS. 

As in holding the spawning salmou, so in impregnating the eggs, all methods 
emi)loyed by enlightened flsh-culturists are, in their general features, the same, the 
main points to be secured in all cases being identical, viz, to keep the eggs perfectly 
dry till the milt is applied, and to use the utmost dispatch in causing the spermatozoa 
of the milt to mingle with the eggs after the eggs are expressed from the fish. 

The eggs, when they fli'st leave the fish, have such an active absorbing power 
that they will very rapidly absorb any liquid that they come iu contact with, and if 
taken in water will absorb the water so quickly that most of them become filled with 
water before the spermatozoa reach them, or rather before tliey reach the micropyle. 
But while it is a singular fact that the spermatozoa of the milt will die iu water in two 
to three minutes, a little water is necessary to stimulate them into efflcieut activity. 
Consequently, while the eggs should be taken perfectly dry, a little water should be 
added to the milt, but the instant this is done the slightly diluted milt should 
be poured on the eggs. If the eggs are taken in one pan and the milt in another, 
simultaneously, and mixed together the instant they are ready, a very high rate of 
impregnation may be secured. 

In actual practice at this station, one pan only has been generally used, and a 
very good impregnation has been secured in that way, but with only one pan the 
manipulations must be made quickly, and the rule must be observed to take the 
eggs dry and to introduce the diluted milt almost simultaneously with the taking of 
the eggs. 

To obtain a high rate of impregnation, these points must be secured: 

(1) The eggs must be taken dry. 

(2) The milt must be taken simultaneously with the eggs. 

(3) The milt must be diluted with a little water. 

(4) The eggs amd milt mixed together instantly after the diluting of the milt. 



224 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

After the eggs have beeu impregnated, it is the custom to pour more water iu the 
pau in a few minutes, and then leave the eggs perfectly quiet until they separate, which 
in the water of McCloud River iu September (52° to 53° F.) usually takes about an 
hour. It should be added that the pans of impregnated eggs are placed iu a trough 
filled with river water to keep them from becoming too warm. After the eggs separate 
they are carefully washed from all particles of effete milt, and then carried in buckets 
to the hatching-house. Here they are measured and placed in tlie hatching-trays. 

HATOHING THE EGGS. 

At liaird station the AVilliamson troughs with deej) trays have been used for 
hatching the eggs. This plan has been found to be, in the writer's judgment, the best 
thing yet devised for maturing salmon eggs on a large scale. The trays used are really 
wire-netting baskets, about lli inclies wide by 2-1 inches long, and deep enough to bring 
the top of the trays an inch or two above the water, which is 5 or G inches deep iu the 
Williamson troughs in which they were placed. Into these trays we pour 2 gallons of 
salmon eggs at a time. This makes the eggs 12 or 15 tiers deep, and yet they suffer 
no injury whatever from being so x>ded up, one explanation of this being that the 
water all the time farcing its way up through the eggs loosens them so that they do 
not feel the weight of those above them, while at the same time it reaches every egg 
and furnishes a fresh supply of air to them all. 

The advantages of this method are: 

(1) The top of the tray or basket is out of the water and always entirely dry; 
ccmsecjuently in handling them the hands arc^ always dry. 

(2) ]>y tilting one end of the tiay or basket up and down a little, or by lifting the 
whole basket and settling it gently back again in its place, the white eggs will be 
forced to the top. Conseciueutly no feather is required in picking over the eggs, and 
thus the injuries very often iutlicted with the feather are obviated. 

(3) The top of the basket being above the water, the eggs can never run over tlie 
top nor escape in any way, which is a great advantage over the shallow trays. 

(4) The whole thing is so simi)le that nothing simpler that answers the purjwse 
can be conceived. There is no complication of i>arts. There is nothing, in fact, to 
look after or move but the basket itself. 

(5) Finally, it economizes space. Fifty thousand eggs can be kept on a super- 
ficial area of 2 square feet. Two troughs 20 feet long and 1 foot wide will, by this 
method, carry 1,000,000 salmon eggs. 

Th' space in this trough, as in other hatching-troughs, is divided into compart- 
ments a trifle longer than the trays that are used to contain the eggs. The peculiar 
feature of the trough is that at the lower end of each compartment a cleat or partition, 
extending entirely across the trough, reaches from the bottom almost to the top, and 
another similar partition at the upper end of the compartment reaches from the toji 
almost t() the bottom of the trough. The water is consequently forced to flow under 
the up])er i^artitiou and over the lower partition, and in order to do this it must neces- 
sarily ascend through the trays of eggs. 

Two results are secured by this method: 

(1) The trays may be made several inches deep and nniy be filled at least half 
full of eggs. 

(2) A good but gentle circulation is continually maintained through the eggs. 



Bull. U, S. F, C, 1896. (To face page 224.) 



Plate 77. 



cr o 
-. o 



o 

c 







PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THK PACIFIC COAST. 225 

An unusual advaiitixge is giiiued in consequeuce, viz, ten times as many eggs 
cau be liatched in the same space and with tlie same sui)ply of water as by the old 
methods. 

My report for 1874-75 speaks as follows of these hatching-troughs: 

Too much cau not be said iu praise of these hatching-trays. With them it is only necessary, in 
picking out the white eggs, to raise tlie tray a little ways out of the water and gi^ntly innnerse it 
again. Tlie upward pressure of the water throws the dea<l eggs to the surfa<H', where they cau be 
picked out without even the touch of a feather. With these trays the hands are never wet, the trays 
are uever changed from their places, the eggs never flow over the top, and the feather becomes 
unnecessary. In addition to these advantages, all sediment accumulating about the eggs cau be 
easily run off by gently moving the tray up and down a few times iu the water. — (United States Fish 
Commissioner's Report, 1874-75, page 447.) 

In 1870, after a year's experience with these hatching-troughs, my report alludes 
to them again as follows : 

The hatching apparatus is the same used last year, namely, the Williamson troughs, with the deep 
wire baskets descnl)ed in last year's report. I ought to add here that the wire baskets gave the same 
satisfaction that they did the year before. Thei/ are iinrjuestionabli/ tlie best thing known for maturing 
salmon eggs on a large scale. Of the utmost simplicity iu construction, they are more easily handled 
and will hatch more eggs with less cost, less loss, less room, and less labor than any other hatching 
apparatus in use. — (United States Fish Commissioner's Report, 1875-76, page 939.) 

For some unaccountable reason this method of liatchiMg the eggs of the Salnion- 
idw, which is now almost universally in use in the hatcheries of European countries, 
is seldom employed in this country, except on the Pacific Coast. The writer coufi- 
deutly I'ecommends it, however, as the best metliod in existence. At the hatching- 
house at Baird,' the trays are 122 inches long, 12 inches wide, and (! inches deej), the 
trough compartments in which thej' are placed being just enough longer to enable the 
trays to be raised and lowered, and to be also tilted slightly, without too much friction 
against the iiartitions and sides of the trough. 

The troughs themselves are all 10 feet long and have a fall of li inches to each. 
They are covered with canvas covers made sunlight proof by having been saturated 
with asphaltum varnish. I need hardly add that the trays and also the interim- of 
the troughs are thickly coated with asphaltum. 

The water supi)ly for the first hatching apparatus (1872) was obtained from a 
small brook. After that, until 1800, it was obtained directly irom llcCloud River by 
a current wheel placed in the river near the hatching-house. The last automatic 
current wheel used was about 100 feet in circumference. 

For the last few years the wheel has been made much smaller and has been used 
to produce power to work a centrifugal pump that jnimps the water from the river up 
into the hatching-house. The writer, however, strongly recommends, on account of 
its perfect simplicity, the large wheel formerly used, that lifted the water automatic- 
ally in buckets to the necessary height. In the wheel and pump combination there 
are numerous belts and pulleys and minor wheels and other machinery that are con- 
tinually getting out of order, and consequently causing expense of time and money, 
besides creating various frictions which require continual watching. But with the 
automatic wheel there are no belts, no pulleys, no subsidiary wheels, nothing to wear 
out or get outof ordei', nothing to watch, and only one thing to cause friction, viz, the 



' At Sisson station and Battle Creek station of the California Fish Commissicui the troughs are 
16 or 18 inches wide, which 1 consider a better width than IL' inches, and would cordially recommend it. 

F. C. B 1896—15 



226 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

revolving axleof tbe wlieel, the bearings of wliich do not need to be oiled oftenerthan 
once a day. 

For the iirst fifteen years of operations at this station after 1873 the current wheel 
was relied upon exclusively to furnish the water supi)ly for the hatcbing-house. A 
steam engine and miner's pump were then introduced as a reserve agency to furnish 
water in the event of any accident to the wheel, and in 1895 a ditch was built to take 
water from Wiley Creek to the hatching-house by force of gravitation. The ditch is 
nearly 1;^ miles long, and furnishes an excellent water supply during the rainy 
season, when the river is too high to niani[)iilate tlie wheel. 

At the Clackamas station, in Oregon, the water sui)ply was first obtained from 
the Clackamas Kiver by a current wheel operating a Chinese pump, which lifted the 
water 27 feet into a Hume running to the hatching-house. Subsequently water was 
taken from a point on Clear Creek, about a quarter of a mile distant, but owing to the 
nature of the bed of the creek no dam ccmld be made to stay there, and now the 
water supply is pumped up from the Clackamas by a steam pump. 

At Fort Caston station, in Humboldt County, Cal., as also at the branch station 
at Redwood near by, the water supply for the hatching-house is taken from spring-fed 
streams in the neighboring hills. 

To return again to Baird station, I will say that after the salmon are measured 
out and placed in hatching-trays very little is done to them except a slight picking 
over and rinsing off of sediment until the "delicate stage" is reached, which is just as 
the spinal column is forming. Then they are left alone until the distinct line of the 
backbone, becoming visible in the embryo, indicates that the delicate stage is passed. 
Then the white eggs are carefully picked out, and after a little, when the appearance 
of the choroid pigment (eye-spots) shows that the eggs can stand comparatively rough 
usage, they are "di])pered," or the water otherwise actively agitated in order to kill 
off all the empty eggs. When these are removed the eggs are ready to be packed for 
shipment or to be hatched, as the case may be. 

If the eggs are to be hatched, wire trays are used with every other straiid length- 
wise of the bottom of the tray removed, which enables the newly-hatched fish, as fast 
as they emerge from the eggs, to slip down into the trough below, where they can be 
kept, if desired, or whence they can be easily removed, if necessary. 

PACKING THE EGGH. 

The packing of eggs for shiiiment from this station over long distances has 
always been the same. The packing boxes are made of lialf-inch pine, 2 feet square 
and 1 foot deep. At the bottom of the box is placed a thick layer of moss, then comes 
one thickness of mosquito bar, then a layer of eggs, then mosquito bar again, then 
other successive layers of moss, netting, eggs, netting, and so on to the middle of the 
box. Here a firm wooden partition is fastened in, and the packing renewed above the 
partition in the same manner as below. The cover is then screwed on the top and 
another box packed. When two boxes are ready, they are placed in wooden crates, 
made large enough to allow a space of 3 inches on all sides of the boxes. This space 
is filled with hay to protect the eggs r.gainst ciianges of l:eraperature. The cover 
being put on the crate and the marking done, the eggs are ready to ship. 

I should have added that in the middle of the crate an open space is left about 
4 inches in depth between the two boxes of eggs lor ice. As soon as the crates arrive 



PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 227 

at tbe railway (station, this space is filled with ico and the top of the crate is also 
covered with ice. 

The following letters show how the eggs, packed as above described, survived 
their overland journey iu 1878: 

Mount Carroll, III., Ocfoher 16, 1S7S. 
Dear Sir: The two crates of California salmon eggs, of which you notified me from California, 
reached me on the 14th instant. They are in fine condition, onti/ about S j'er cent being found faulty. 
Very truly, yours, 

Samuel Preston. 
Livingston Stone, Esq. 



Gloucester, Mass., Ootoher 18, 1S7S. 
My Dear Sir; My man writes me of the safe arrival of the salmon eggs in ijuod condition. Out 
of the lot of 250,000 he piiked out 6,000 bad eggs, 2.4 per oent. 
Yours, very respectfully, 

Frank N. Clark. 
Livingston Stone. 



St. Paul, Minn., October SS, 1S7S. 
Dear Sir: The California salmon eggs from tlie McClond Kiver rame to us oa the evening of the 
14th, and I am glad to say that they open up iu better order than any wo have ever received before. 
The ijackiug and carriage were a complete success, and up to this time the loss has not been oi^er S per 
cent. 

Very respectfully, R. O. Sweeny. 

Hon. S. F. Baird, United States Fish Commissioner. 



Trenton, N. J., Octobei- 14, 1S7S. 
Dear Sir : In accord.ance with your request of September 23, you are informed that the shipment 
of salmon eggs for the State of New .Jersey, and others (total, 475,000), was received in due time, and 
that the condition of the eggs on arrival was most excellent. 

Very respectfully, E. J. Anderson, 

Commissioner of Fisheries of New Jtrseij. 
Livingston Stone, Esci. 



Elgin, III., October 13, 1S7S. 
Dear Sir; The California sahuou eggs came in excellent shape. 

W. A. Pratt. 
Livingston Stone. 



Council Bluffs, Iowa, October 17, 1S7S. 
Dear Sir: The ,50,000 Calilornia salmon eggs shipped me per express were duly received on the 
14th instant, and in unpacking the same I iind them in excellent condition. 

Yours, respectfully, Wm. A. Mynster. 

Livingston Stone. 



228 



BULLETIN OF TllK UNITED STATES FISH COJiMISSION. 



All tlie salmon eggs forwarded from this station were sent by express (the express 
messengers being instructed to keep the crates plentifully re iced in transit), until 
ISTfi, when an ice car was used for transiiorting the eggs from Kedding to Chicago, 
whence they were distributed to their eastern destinations. The ice car, which to start 
with was only a common box-freight car, was sent by the railroad company to Eedding, 
the nearest railway point from J>aird, with a ton or so of ice. The crates of salmon 
eggs in the meantime were forwarded by wagon from Baird. They were then packed 
into the car and the car sent down to Sacramento and lillcd np w ith ice; on the same 
day it left for Chicago on the regular jiassenger tiaiii of the Central racitic. 

The method of packing with moss, as above described, has always been employed 
at this station for sliii)ping eggs over long distances, but for short distances the Annin 
packing box is used. This box is too well known to need description. 1 will only say 
that in my experience it has always answered its purpose admirably. We have 
frequently even found a.. few eggs alive in the return boxes, that had been overlooked 
in unpacking and which had remained in the box two or three weeks. 

The following excellent tabulated statement,' prepared by Mr. Smiley, may not 
be out of place here. 

Tabic Klioiriiii/ the snrcvua in ti-iiiispoyliiiii iDiil hntching SI, 193,000 nalmun eijiis. 



state to -ftiiicli (■nnsigued. 



Colorado 

CniiiK'Cticut 

lUillnis 

Inwa 

K;tii-*as 

Kentucky 

JlaillK 

Alarvland 

Massachusetts. . 

ili. Iiigan 

Miiiii.s.jta 

Missouri 

;Nebraska 

Xf\ ada 

Kt-w Hamp.shire 

Xew .Jersey 

Kew York 

North Carolina . 

Ohio 

Peuiisvlvania. .. 
Rhode Islaud ... 
South Carolina. . 

Tennessee 

Utah 

\'irj;inia 

West Viriiinia . . 
Wisconsin 

Total 



Number of 

Ggjrs sent 

from McCioud 

Kiver. 


Received at 

State 
hatcheries. 


Loss in hatching 
and transport- 
ing to waters. 


Young actually 
introduced. 


Number 
lost. 


Per 
cent. 

16 


Number. 


Per 
cent. 


565, 000 


565, 000 


92, 100 


472, 900 


84 


1, 410, 000 


1,390,000 


191,714 


13 


1, 198, 286 


87 


1, 030, 000 


930. 000 


362, 300 


39 


567, 700 


61 


1,050,000 


1, 100, 000 


86, 800 


8 


1,013,200 


93 


400, 000 


400. 000 


20, COO 


5 


380, 000 


95 


355, 000 


350, 000 


232, 27a 


60 


1)7.725 


34 


215, (JOO 


165, 000 


77, 300 


47 


87. 700 


53 


4, 615, 000 


4, 440. 000 


1, 175, 601 


29 


3,264,399 


71 


740, 000 


728, 000 


250, 001) 


36 


409, COO 


64 


3, 908, OHO 


3, 868, 000 


618, 979 


16 


3, 249, 000 


84 


2. 825, COO 


2, 627, 500 


1,751,750 


64 


875. 750 


36 


410. 000 


400. 000 


64,000 


10 


336. 1)00 


84 


710, noo 


6011, 000 


110. OCO 


18 


490, 000 


82 


250, UOO 


250, 000 


50, 000 


20 


20C, 000 


80 


55.5, 000 


467, OOO 


37, 960 


8 


439, 540 


93 


2, 480, 000 


2, 430, OOO 


330, 371 


14 


2, 099. 629 


84 


1,135,000 


980, 000 


144, 790 


15 


835, 210 


85 


1,100,000 


1, 117. 500 


369, 500 


33 


748.000 


07 


500, 000 


.'iOO, 000 


127, 500 


26 


372,500 


74 


2, 440, 000 


2, 385, 000 


483. 500 


20 


1,901,500 


80 


340, 000 
250, 000 
100, OOO 
600, 000 
1. 270, 000 


220, 000 
333, 000 
(a) 

025, 000 
1,285,000 


40, 000 
121, 000 

(1) 

114,500 
3.58, 500 


18 
36 
(«) 
18 
28 


180,000 
312, COO 
(a) 

510, 500 
926, 60O 


82 
64 
(«) 
82 
72 


810, 000 
1,100.000 


785, OOO 
1, 130, 000 


47, 625 
300, 400 


6 

27 


737, 375 
829, 000 


94 
73 


31, 193, 000 


30, 071, 000 


7,567,465 


25 


22, 504, 035 


75 



a No report received. 

It will be seen by the above table that the gratifying average of 75 per cent of 
all the 30,000,000 eggs distributed from Baird station in the ten years from 1872 to 
ISSl, inclusive, were actually hatched out, and the fish deposited in the waters of the 
Atlantic States. 



'United States Fish Commissioner's Report, 1881, page 837. 



Bull U S F C 1896 To face page 226.1 



Plate 78. 




PACKING SALMON EGGS AT CLACKAMAS HATCHERY 




INTERIOR OF HATCHING HOUSE, BAIRD STATION. 



PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 



229 



I will, in couclusiou, quote some remaiks on the results of salmon breeding iu 
California from the report of the California State Fish Commission for 1893-94: 

Oni- salmou fishery is of the greatest imiiortauce to lis, as it furnishes a hirger supply by 800,000 
pounds than any other food-lish, the catch beiug 4,848,810 pounds iu 1892. Hatching operations were 
inaugurated iu 1873. In 1875 the take (of salmon iu the Sacramento and San Joaquin) was 5,098,781 
pounds; in 1878, 6,.520, 768 pounds ; and in 1880, 10,837,400 pounds. 

In 1884, it became necessary to close the spawning station at Baird, as the salmon were pre- 
vented from ascending Sacramento Kiver to that point by blasting operations above Kedding, occa- 
sioned by the building of the railroad. Conse(£uently, the planting ceased and this station was not 
operated until 1888. The result was that the catch decreased until the effects of the resumption of 
the artificial batching again began to show in 1892. Since 1892 the increase has been very marked, 
and the results of the planting of fry each year are again demonstrated. 

Since 1892 the salmon pack at the canneries has steadily increased, while at the 
same time there has been a much larger demand for salmon in tli'3 markets of the 
State. 

The following table shows the decrease in the pack to 1892 and the subsequent 
increase, which we hope to see crontinued : 



Tear. 


Pounds. 


Cases. 


1888 


4, 039, 200 
1,618,471 
672, 121 
170. 42.'') 
1, 4'.I0, 927 
1, 940, 009 


61,200 
25, 005 
10, :to3 
2,281 
23, 330 
28, 463 


1890 . . 


1891 


1892 


1893 


1894 





Through the kindness of Mr. J. P. Babcock, chief deputy of the California Fish 
Commission, I have just been furnished with the following interesting statistics, illus- 
trating the increase of salmon in the Sacramento, from 1803 to 1895. October of 1895 
being a close month, the total number of pounds given for that year is, of course, less 
than it would otherwise have been. If, to supply the deficiency, we add the average 
of October, 1893 and 1894, to the total of 1895, which would then put the latter year 
on a basis of fair comparison with the two previous years, it makes the total of 1895 
3,040,000 pounds, or a gain of nearly 25 per cent over the year 1893. 



Table showing namher ofpoiutda of fresh quinnat salmon handled in the San Francisco markets 

in 1S9S, 1894, and 1895. 



January . . . 
February.. 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

Aujiust 

September. 
Ortober . . , , 
November . 
Deoember.. 



Total . 



Months. 



Pounds. 

137, 460 

93, 263 

139, 401 

374, 478 

325, no 

70, 216 
149, 217 
575, 009 
(a) 

249, 753 
183. 789 
155, 090 



2, 453, 446 



1894. 



Poundi 
128, 
103, 
163, 
211, 
243. 
133, 
117, 
576, 
(a) 
403, 
276, 
192, 



2, 554, 600 



T'nunds. 
161.641 
146, 250 
155, 791 
36.'), 387 
401.787 
161,989 
115, .592 
447, 094 

(n) 

(«) 
431,453 
326, 474 



2,713,458 



a Closed season. 



230 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



NOTES OX THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE OUINNAT SALMON. 



The quiiiriat saliuou (Onrorhyncliiis tschinri/tscha) lias almost as many local names 
as the ISTortk American pautlier {Fvlin cuncolor). 1 think its tirst popular name was 
the "Columbia River salmon," and its flrst scientific uame, iit general use, was Salmo 
qiiiinidt. Time and closer acquaintance with the fish has robbed it of both these 
names. What its most accepted popular name is at present it would be hard to say, 
but its generally received scientific name is now Oncorhynclno; tscliiiiri/l.'^chft, this 
Russian cognomen having been found to supersede by many years the Sdliiio ijninnat 
of (lairdner & 8ucldey. The origin of the term "quinnat" is involved in obscurity. 
Several exijlanations have been ottered for it, but the most probable seems to be 
that the name was derived from the Indian name (^"""""'^0 of a tributary of the 
Columbia, where the finest salmon of the river were supposed to be caught. Every- 
one knows the tendency of every article to take the name of the place where it is 
found at its best; accordingly, the best Columbia River salmon being found in Quin- 
nault River, all the Columbia River salmon came to be called (^hdniiuiiU, or quinnai, 
salmon, the latter word being the former with the / dropped. 

Other xwpular names of this salmon are "siiring" salmon and "chinook" salmon, 
by which names it is commonly known on the Columbia River. On the Sacramento 
River it is known simply as "salmon," there being no other kind of salmon to amount 
to anything in the Sacramento. Its name in the Chinook dialect is "tyee" salmon 
(king salmon), by which latter name it is known farther north and on the Yukon. 
The local Indian name for salmon on the 3IcCloud is "uoolh." 

The following is Dr. Suckley's description of the quinnat salmon, taken from the 
Uniteil States Fish Commissioner's Report, 187-'-73, page 105: 

Salmo quinnat Richardson. 

Sp. Ch. — Adult. — Head pointed and large, forming about a fourth ol the length from the snout to 
the end of the scales on the caudal. Dorsal outline regularly arched. Caudal deeply cut out (in the 
dried specimen forlced), snout cartilaginous, as iu .«. mliir. Chin ]«)intcd, a triangular bare projection 
extending beyond the teeth. 

(Jeneral tint of the back, bluish gray, changing after a fe%v hours' removal from water into 
mountain green ; sides ash-gray, with silvery luster; belly white; baclv above the lateral line studded 
with irregular rhomboidal or star-like sjjots, some of tlieui oscillated ; dorsal fm and gill cover slightly 
reddish; tips of the anal :ind jiectorals lilackish gray; the dorsal and caudal thickly studded with 
round and rhomboidal spots; back of the head sparingly marked with the same. The whole body 
below the lateral line, with the under fins, destitute of sjiots. (liairduer in Rich., F. B. A., Fishes, 
220.) .Scales large, liranchiostegal rays varying from l(i to 20. 

The quinnat salmon or chinook salmon is very widely distributed on the Pacific! 
coast. A.S far south as the mild climate of Santa Cruz in Calitbrnia it is caught, and 
as far uortli as the frozen waters of the Arctic it is found in abuiulance; and uo Pacific 
Coast stream from the Sacramento to the Yukon is found without it. 

The quinnat salmon, when freshly caught and in its iirime. is a very handsome, 
plump-lookiug, silvery fish, more or less covered with fine black spots; and though 
it shows its claim to royal lineage in its whole appearance, it does not possess the 
graceful hues and curves of its Atlantic cousin, Sulmo naJar, which, however, it very 
much resembles. In flavor, also, its lU'sh, though good when cooked, suffers from 



Bull. U. S, F, C. 1 896. (To face page 230.} 



Plate 79. 



!0 fC 



X ^ 





%>. 



Bull. U. 5. F, C. 1896. (.To face page 230.) 



Plate 80. 



3 o 



> 8- 




Bull. U S. F C. 1S96. (Tn (ace page 230.) 



Plate 81. 




K 


o 


a 


33 




X 




-c 


P 


z 


c 


o 


o_ 


I 




c 


(T 


U1 



<c 3 







Bull. U. S, F. C, 1896, fTn face page 230.) 



Plate 82. 



- z 

o' 5 



i. 5 

t X 










Bull.U. S. F. C. 1896. (To face page 230.) 



Plate 83. 



S5 S 



to 



a 

to 

Si 




Bull, U S. F. C. 1896. iTo face page J3U ) 



Plate 84. 



ft -": 









Bull U. S. F. C. 1B96. <To lace page 23U.) 



Plate 85. 



r. C 



=i ft) 



^ 













Bull. U. S F. C. 1896. iTo face page 230.) 




Plate 86. 



Bull. U. S, F, C. 1896. iToface page 230.) 



Plate 87. 






C S: 




^.■;:^ 



PROPAGATION OP SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 231 

comi>arisoii ^itli the inimitable salmon of tbe Atlantic; and still another charge is 
brought up against it, viz, the old but true iiulictment tliat it does not rise to the fly. 
Nevertheless, with all these handicaps, it holds a high place among the fishes of the 
seas for beauty, gameness, food value, and commercial value, in the two latter points 
of which, on account of its almost incredibly vast numbers, it completely eclipses the 
Atlantic salmon. In all the rivers in which it is found it occurs iu great multitudes, 
and in the upper waters of these streams tlie okl story, so hard for the skeptical to 
accept, is true, that the salmon are found at certain seasons so thick that one could 
cross the stream dry-shod on their backs if he could keep his balance. 

There is no month of the year when there are not salmon in the Saci-amento, but 
their first api^earance in abundance on the Pacific Coast of the United States is at 
Santa Cruz Bay, in January. Here they are caught in very considerable numbers by 
hook and line, either by trolling or from a boat at anchor, as mackerel or iierch are 
caught. Through January and February they are increasing in the main Sacramento, 
but do not become abundant till ]\[arch, when they swarm up the river and are caught 
in great quantitiss in nets, as also in April. In May, June, and July they fall off, but 
reappear iu great numbers in August. They fall off a little in tlie latter part of 
September, and continue to grow scarcer in the main river till the end of the year. 

The number of fresh salmon shipped from Eio Vista to San Francisco in the year 
1872 was as follows : 

Jauuary 792 August 1,496 

February 1,581 ! Seiitembcr 2,335 

Miu-ch 1,'J45 I October 583 

April 3,354 November 441 

May 4, 40S I December 390 

June 1,201 ' 

July 1,145 ! Total 19,671 

Their movements iu the Columbia are quite different. Here tlicy make their first 
appearance in February, thougli iu very small numbers. The main body arrives in 
May, June, and especially in July, when the run is enormous. Tlie May salmon are 
largest. Perhaps the most correct view to take of the running of tlie salmon is to 
consider all the salmon as included in one run, beginning in February, increasing in 
May and June, and culminating in July; though they might also be legitimately 
divided into three runs, the first or meager run coming in February, Jlarch, and April, 
the second or full run in May and June, and the third or maximum run iu July. After 
July they diminish rapidly, and soon almost entirely disappear from the main river. 

The writer has always been told by the professional fishermen on the Sacramento 
and Columbia that the salmon come down the ocean from the north to the mouths of 
the rivers, but their regular appearance on the coast of southern California early in 
January, their subsequent appearance in the Sacramento in February, and their still 
later appearance in the Columbia in Mar(;h seem to indicate quite conclusively that 
the salmon came up the coast to these rivers from points farther south, to which they 
ha\e migrated for a sojourn during a portion at least of the winter months. 

It is probably true of most anadromous fish which leave the ocean to go up fresh- 
water streams to spawn, that they eat little or nothing after they get above tide water. 
At all events, as soon as the quiuuat ''salmon, coming from the sea, strike fresh water 
their appetites begin to weaken, their throats begin to narrow, and their stomachs 
begin to shrink. This does not at first, however, entirely prevent them from feeding, 
but it changes them enough to enable them to overcome the temptation to return to 



232 15ULLETIX OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

their well-stocked feeding grouuds in the salt ocean; and the longer they remain in 
fresh water the greater the changes become, and the temptation to tarn back for food 
correspondingly less. There is i)robably no one specified timowben an abrupt change 
comes which deprives them in au instant of their ability and desire to feed, but in the 
writer's opinion the transformation comes on gradually, increasing constantly day by 
day from the time they leave tide water till, at tlie near approach of the spawning sea- 
son, their throats find stomachs become entirely incapacitated for receiving food, and 
the desire and ability to feed leave them entirely; but, notwitlistanding their scanty 
supply at first and their entire abstinence afterwards, the great reserve of superfluous 
flesh and blood, which they bring with them in their own bodies from the bounHful 
ocean, enables them witli little or no food in their stomachs to keep their vital organs 
in vigorous activity until their momentous mission up the fresh-water streams is 
accomplished.'" In the ocean their staple food consists of smaller flsh. 

It is a singular fact regarding the (juinnat salmon that those, at least, that spawn 
along distance from the ocean never return td it again alive. They all die oh their 
S2}awni)t//-(i)-uun(ls. This fact, I am aware, has been disputed many times, and is by 
no means universally accepted now, but its truth has been i)roved so repeatedly and 
conclusively that it is no longer open to (juestion. My report for 1872-73 says on 
this point: 

In March, when the siilnion iirst arrive in the McClond, they are in tine condition. They are now 
bright and silvery, with shining scales. They are fat and excellent for the table, but not very large. 
The spawn in the females is very small. Their flesh is of a deeT> red color. The ui.ales and females 
are almost indistinguishable at this time. This state of things remains till August, except that the 
salmon gradually deteriorate in quality and the eggs increase in size. The first marked change in 
the fish takes pliico a little before the middle of August. The salmon then become very black. The 
males grow deep and thin, and the dog-teeth begin to show themselves and to increase rapitlly in size. 
The females are now big with spawn, and the sexes are easily distinguishable. From this time they 
rapidly deteriorate. Their llesh shades off to a light, dirty pink. They become foul and diseased, 
and very much emaciated. Tlieir scales are wholly absorbed in the skin, which is of a dark olive hue, 
or black. Blotches of fungus appear on their heads and bodies, and in various places are long white 
patches where the skin is jjartly worn oft'. Their fins and tails become badly mutihited, and in a 
short time they die exhausted. By the first of October most of the fish that were in the river in 
August are dead. 

And again: 

At the spawning season the changes, especially in the male salmon, are very marked. Both 
sexes lose their bright and silvery coat. Their scales become absorbed into the skin, which grows 
very slimy and perfectly snu)otli, like that of a catfish or hornpout. Their color changes into a dirty 
black, and then into a dark, unclean olive color. Blotches of fungus and large patches of white, 
caused by abrasion of the skin, appear all over them. The fins and tail become mutilated. Their 
bodies grow foul and emaciated. Their eyes get more or less injured; they often become blind; 
swarms of parasites gather in their gills and sticlv to their fins. Tlieir bodies reach the extreme ]>oiut 
of attenuation, and, as soon as tlie spawning is accomplished, tliey die. 

Xo anadromous fish varies so nuich in size as the quiniiat salmon, and this is one 
of its most notable characteristics. In the Sacramento the average weight at Saia'a- 
mento City in 18!)2 was thought to be about 20 pounds, and the largest weighed GO 
IJOunds. In the Columbia the cannery men jmt the average weight at about 2.? ])ounds, 
and the largest on record weighed 83 pouiuls. 

' "The Chinook Salmon:" Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 1894. 



PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 



233 



Iu the Yukon IIIO pound salmon are said to be not rare, and the writer met on 
Kadiak Ishind a professional salmon hshermau who said he had seen a Yukon salmon 
that weighed 125 pounds. The smallest quiuuat salmon that the writer Las ever seen 
weighed 3i pounds, and was a female with perfectly developed ova, which were taken 
and afterwards hatched into healthy young salmon fry. 

The salmon that are taken at Baird station, on M(;Cloud liiver, iu California, vary 
widely iu size iu different years. Leaving out the grilse, or partly matured males, the 
average weight of the salmon manipulated at this station the last few years is estimated 
at about 13 pounds each. On the other hand, iu 1878, the average weight of the 
spawners taken in August, after the eggs had been expressed from them, was only 
8^ pounds. 

Below will be found the weight of 82 salmon spawned and weighed after spawning, 
ou the 29th of August, 1878: 



Number. 


Weight 

in 
ponnds. 


Number. 


Weight 

iu 
pounds. 


Number. 


Weight 

in 
pounds. 


Number. 


Weight 

iu 
pounds. 


1 


16 
8 

10 
9 

14 
6 

12 
7 
8 
7 
8 

15 
7 
8 
6 
8 
7 
7 
7 
8 
7 


22 


17 

7 

7 

8 

15 

9 

8 

7 

U 

14 

14 

7 

17 
13 
8 
7 
9 
14 
5 
7 
17 


43 


5 
5 
7 
7 
8 
7 
7 
7 
6 
8 
9 
6 
6 
5 
8 
7 
7 
7 
10 



64 


5 
6 

8 
7 

5 

7 
6 
7 
7 
7 
7 
6 
11 
5 
7 
8 
5 


2 


23 


44 


65 


3 


24 


45 


66 


4 


25 


46 


67 


5 


26 


47 


68 


6 

7 


27 


48. . . 


69 


28 


49 


70 


8 


29 


50 


71 


9 


30 


51 


7*) 


10 

11 


31 


52 


73 


32 


53 


74 .... 


12 .. 


33 


54 


75 


13 


34 


55 


76 


14 


35 


56 


77 


15 


36 


57 

58 


78 


16 


37 


79 


17 


38 


59 




18 


39 


60 


81 


19 


40 


61 


82 


20 


41 


62 




21 


42 


63 ... 









In the Sacramento aud the Columbia the appearauce of the salmon is very regular, 
the numbers, however, showing a very marked dependence on the number of young 
fry hatched at the breeding stations the corresponding j-ears. 

There has never been to the writer's knowledge a serious failure of the salmon iu 
any year to make their appearance in the Columbia, and only one iustance of iailure 
in the Sacramento, viz, in 18(5(), which was doubtless caused by the debris (slickens) 
turned into the river by the operations of tiie hydraulic miners. 

In ascending the rivers the males usually precede, followed closely by the females. 
Tliis continues through the season, in consequence of which, at the end of the season at 
a breeding station, there are usually females left over after the run of males has ended. 

The rate of progress of these salmon up the rivers varies at different seasons of the 
year. In ascending the Columbia, they are usually from one to three weeks passing 
from the mouth of the river to Clifton, about 20 miles. They first appear at Tiie Dalles 
in the middle of April, about two months after their first appearance at the mouth of 
the Columbia. They appear iu great quantities at The Dalles Jibout the middle of 
June, or two months after they appear in large numbers at the bar. The falls of The 
Dalles are 200 miles up the river, which would indicate that their rate of progression 
to that point is about 100 miles a mouth. 



234 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

It will be noticed, however, that these statements are made in regard to the early 
run of salmon. The later lish probably travel more rapidly, and the I'all run, in the 
8acrameiito at least, make very tiuick time from the mouth to the headwaters of the 
river. 

To what extent the salmon in the ocean are destroyed by larger predaceons fish 
is, of course, not known, but there is no doubt that great numbers are destroycsd full 
grown at the mouth of the Sacramento by seals and sea, lions. After the salmon 
ascend the rivers they are comparatively safe, except from otters and ospreys and • 
lisher cats, but tlie number that these destroy is very small compared with the whole. 

Strange to say, the ([uinuat salmou is spawning somewhere on the Pacific Coast 
waters of the United States seven moutlis in the year. In January they are spawn- 
ing in Eel River; in July the summer run are spawning at the headwaters of tlie 
]\lc01oud and Little Sacramento; in August and September farther down these rivers; 
in October the fall run has beguu at the McGloud and below, and this run continues 
spawning through November and into December. 

In the Columbia and its headwaters there is, so far as I can learn, only one 
spawning season, beginning at the headwaters possibly as early as July. At Clacka- 
mas station, 125 miles from the mouth of the Columbia, they begin to spawn about 
the middle of September and <'ontinue until jSTovember. 

When the salmon are prime (just from the ocean), both sexes look very much 
alike — in fact, they are almost identical in their appearance; but as the spawning 
season approaches, and they gather on the spawning-grounds, the difference in the 
looks of the males and females becomes more and more marked, and during the 
sx)awning season the difference is very consi^icuous. 

The now fully developed ova of the female gives her sex a peculiarly rounded and 
jilump ajipearance, but the shape and expression of her head does not change much. 
On the other hand, the male grows very deep and thin. His head flattens, his upper 
jaw curves like a hoolv over the lower, his eyes assume a peculiarly sunken and mali- 
cious expression. Large, powerful white teeth, like dogs' teeth, api)ear on both jaws, 
and the whole creature acquires an ugly and ferocious ai)pearance. 

A few days before they are ready to spawn they hollow out cavities with their 
heads and tails in the gravel beds of the river where there is a vigorous current, and 
here in due time the eggs and milt of the parent fish are deposited. They cover tlie 
eggs to a certain extent after they are deposited, but not so much as eastern salmon 
{S. salar) do. After spawning, they gradually drop down the river with the current. 

The (piinnat salmon is not so prolific as the Atlantic salmon, 300 or 400 eggs to 
each pound weight of the parent fish being about a fair average. An early report of 
tlie writer placed the average much higher, but there must have been some mistake 
about it, for subsequent observations have not confirmed the statement. At Baird 
station the summer run of sahnon usually begins to spawn about the 20th of August 
and continues until the last week in September. The fall run begins to spawn about 
the 25th of October and continues probably till (3hristmas (u- later, the high water at 
that season rendering it impracticable to ascertain just when the spawning of the fish 
ceases. 

The eggs are about five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, and of a deep salmon- 
red color, with a specific giavity sufficiently greater than that of water to cause them 
to sink at once to the bottom when placed in water. 



PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 235 

Tlie first eggs of the summer rim taken at Baird station liatcli in about 35 days, 
in an average water temperature of about 54° F. In their natural spawning-beds in 
the river itself, the eggs of the summer run are probably all hatched by the first week 
in December, and most of the eggs of the fall run by the 1st of March. 

It is not known what percentage of eggs is hatched in Ihe natural beds of the 
river, but by careful impregnation !)5 per cent or more can be hatched artificially, eveu 
when the hatching is conducted on a large scale. Very little trouble is experienced iu 
hatching the eggs, and when they are hatched no more beautiful sight can be imagined 
than that of the swarms of young, ex(inisitely colored alevins in the hatching- 
troughs. The alevins also remain very healthy with a suitabh; supiily of water, and 
in two or three weeks develop their singular instinct to dive down underneath every- 
thing that they can get under. In consequence of this instinct, when left to their 
natural conditions in the rivers they bury themselves under the gravel bed of the 
stream, where, although without any means whatever of defense or escape and utterly 
lielpless, they are nevertheless, by this wonderful provision of nature, absolutely safe 
until, their yolk sac having become absorbed, they have to come out of their places of 
refuge to get something to eat. 

After the young fish come out of their hiding-places in the gravel, they at first 
gather together in schools, but soon begin to separate, after which they are so rapid iu 
their movements that it is a jiretty active bird or fish that succeeds in catching many 
of them. In the course of the summer following the hatching season, they flock 
together like blackbirds in the fall, and make their journey to the sea; and the next 
time we see them they are ascending the rivers to continue their endless round of 
reproductive life. 

I can not close this subject without referring to the mystery which hangs over the 
question of the length of the stay of the (juinnat salmon in the ocean. The problem 
is this: There is not a shadow of a doubt that more than nine-tenths, if not ninety- 
uine hundredths, of the summer run of salmon that come up the tributaries of the 
Sacramento to spawn end their lives immediately after spawning, but the next year, 
before their progeny are inches long, another set of full-grown, inature salmon come 
up the river and spawn and die, and the next year the same, and so on. Kow, the 
question is, Where did this second lot and third lot come from, and ichere tvere they the 
year he/ore they cdme vp to the spairtiinf/urnnndsT If. being anadromous fish, all the 
Sucramento (|Uota of salnjon in the ocean came up to spawn any oiii^ year and died on 
the spawning-grounds, how could there be any run to come up the next year and the 
next! It seems almost as puzzling as the old question, Which came first, the hen or 
the egg! If the hen laid the first egg, where did the hen come from ? 

The mystery in regard to the salmon has so far remained unsolved, and probably 
will remain so for sometime to come. The writer does not claim to furnish an answer, 
but would merely suggest that it may be possible that out of each annual batch of 
eggs that are hatched difterent portions of the fish created from them may remain in 
the ocean different lengths of time before they reach the reproductive stage of life, 
which hurries them up the rivers to ])erpetnate their species. This would supply a 
solution of the problem, but. like the theory of evolution, it is not at present supported 
bv evidence. 



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